


Visualisation Wars

by volleydorks



Category: Haikyuu!!, Sword Art Online
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Video Game World, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Homophobia, Injury, Inspired by SAO, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-07
Updated: 2017-12-08
Packaged: 2019-01-10 10:03:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 34,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12296865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/volleydorks/pseuds/volleydorks
Summary: “You’ll never be able to play volleyball ever again.”When Hinata Shouyou hears those words, he finds it hard to believe. He doesn’t want to believe it. But, he can’t pretend that the cast on his knee is just him cosplaying as Oikawa Tooru. He can’t pretend that it’s just some kind of glitch. He’s injured; so much that he can never play his sport again.To make it worse, sport’s not the only thing that he lost. He also lost his chance at a normal life the second he put on his NerveGear and stepped into the VRMMORPG created by Kayaba Akihiko — Visualisation Wars. In-between physio and ignoring Kageyama’s phone calls, he slips the helmet over his head and allows himself to forget reality for a couple of minutes. However, it all goes crashing down when Kayaba decides to trap all of the players inside of the game, revealing that the only way to escape is to be the last one standing.In this story, Kageyama and Hinata are standing on opposite ends of the spectrum.





	1. To Bid You Farewell

**Author's Note:**

> Whew! So, while writing this all I listened to was Opeth's 'Morningrise'. But in particular, I listened to 'To Bid You Farewell', the namesake of this chapter. I've based most of the chapter titles off of this song in particular, so if you like, it's probably best if you listen to the song (or the whole album if you like, I'd recommend that) while reading this. I'm going to warn you guys now, this is going to be really angsty. :(  
> [The 'Morningrise' playlist here ^_^](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb2uXRYVRoc&list=PL1oqVEByIgcI7z06gcQpNNY2azLYUcPf4)
> 
> have fun.

      “You’ll never be able to play volleyball again.”

      Those are the words that haunt Hinata, day after day. The solemn look on the doctor’s face; the pained expression on his mother’s face and the pain that hit him so _hard_ he thought he’d physically break apart. He didn’t want to believe it at first. He’d protested against the doctor’s words. He’d insisted that it was just a little problem with his leg, that it would heal away in no time. So, the doctor could stop saying all that baloney about ‘meniscal injuries’ and ‘irreparable damage’. It was _baloney_.

      He still remembered the day. He’d jumped up to the net, his setter Kageyama had tossed to him and he’d spiked the ball straight down, winning Karasuno the set. Now, he’d set the score. Shiratorizawa had two sets, Karasuno had two sets. This last set was crucial. Hinata fully intended to play through it; he’d show that Ushijima just who was boss. The entire team had been working towards this moment. Hinata wasn’t going to let it go just because of some stupid pain in his knee. He was going to shine in nationals, he was going to _take_ Nationals. He was going to make sure that the whole of Japan had the name ‘Hinata Shouyou’ imprinted in their minds.

      But then, he did let it go.

      The score was 24-23 in Shiratorizawa’s favour. Hinata had found himself praying that Kageyama’s trust in him would waver, that Kageyama would toss to Tanaka or just _someone_ that wasn’t him.

      That didn’t happen. The toss went flying. It was there for Hinata to take. He jumped, but he wasn’t going high enough. It was shooting past his fingertips, just barely out of reach. But, in some insane stroke of luck, he’d slapped the volleyball with his left palm, driving it right up over the net. A loud “Chance ball!” was heard as their libero went to receive the ball. But that didn’t matter. The moment Hinata hit the ground once again, it wasn’t on his feet. It was on his knees, and he was screaming. _It hurts_. Everyone’s eyes were on him. The screams didn’t shake Shiratorizawa’s concentration though. Ushijima spiked the ball right over his head and stole the point from Karasuno, just like that.

      The whistle blew. _The game was over_. Just like that. Coach Ukai was rushing over, pulling Hinata right back up off the ground. But his teammates didn’t rush over. They were staring at Shiratorizawa, who were currently celebrating. The crowd, who was celebrating. Their dreams had just been wiped away in the blink of an eye. Hinata’s scream had brokered their concentration, brokered the trust they’d built over these five sets. Hinata’s scream had lost them the match. They were _broken_ , damnit. They’d fought so hard for this moment. Sugawara, Daichi, Asahi. It had been their last chance to win and they hadn’t. They’d lost it all.

      “You’ll need to wear this brace on your knee,” the doctor continued to say. “You won’t be able to walk without it.” _Shut up_ , Hinata wanted to say. He wanted to scream at the doctor, tell him to stop feeding him these _lies_. What the hell did Hinata just spend his time fighting for? What the hell did he spend all these months working towards? This injury? The one that’s got him hospitalised? The one that’s got his mother looking at him the way she is?

      “You’ll also need to take capsules of Oxycodone to aid with the pain.” _What, the emotional pain?_ Hinata’s got a _lot_ of that right now. Why doesn’t this doctor understand that he can’t reach into Hinata’s brain and yank all of his regrets out? Or maybe he _does_ understand that, but wants Hinata to have some sort of hope. Either way, Hinata’s drained of it all. He’s still going to play volleyball. Forget this _idiot_ doctor, he doesn’t know what he’s saying. He doesn’t. He _doesn’t_.

      “Tissue.” He’d stopped talking. He was now holding out a tissue to the fallen spiker, who had started crying at last. He couldn’t take it. The disappointment, the regrets that had been weighing heavy on his shoulder; they were all beginning to fall right on top of him. They were crushing him; his heart; his soul. What does he have to do now?

      This doctor, he didn’t understand. Why does he keep burbling on about surgeries and wrappings and medicine? Hinata doesn’t need it. He’s going to walk back onto that court, he’s going to work on quicks with his setter and he’s going to conquer the world. Just as he planned. There wasn’t any stupid ‘meniscal injury’ that would stop that from happening. He didn’t care if continuing to play with the injury would hurt him even more. Oikawa had a knee brace and people feared him more than anything. Hinata could be just the same. It didn’t matter how many times the doctor told him that Hinata’s condition had worsened so much that he couldn’t play sports. The doctor was just talking baloney. Maybe he’s jealous that he can’t spike as quick as Hinata can. Maybe he’s jealous that he doesn’t have the stamina Hinata does. Why else would the doctor be telling him all these lies?

      “We’ll be able to discharge you tomorrow. Right now, you should rest.” Rest for what? Hinata can’t _rest_. He’s excited. He missed a month of practice for this doctor business. He had a _lot_ to catch up on, didn’t he? He was really curious to know how things were going between Yachi and Tsukishima. He wanted to know if Nishinoya or Tanaka had managed to make any progress with Shimizu (although Hinata doubted it greatly). He wanted to know if everyone had recovered from their loss yet.

      Either way, Hinata wasn’t going to disappoint them. He was going to step back onto that court; he was going to prove exactly why he was going to become the future ace. Aces are meant to be infallible; they’re meant to get up after falling, again and again. Hinata might’ve landed on his knees that time, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to keep flying. It was the only thing he could do without fail. It was the only thing that kept his conflicting emotions at bay.

      “I’ll be here to pick you up in the morning, Shouyou. I’ll bring Natsu as well. She’s been missing her big brother.” At the mention of Natsu, Hinata could feel his mood beginning to brighten a little. He nodded at his mother, who was clutching her car keys in her hands nervously. She probably still hadn’t recovered from the news herself. She knew first-hand just how much Hinata loved volleyball. Everyone did.

***

      The sunrise arrived at last, bitter and orange. It made Hinata angry, watching it from his window. _Why does the sunrise get to fly higher than me? It’s just an ugly orange blob in the sky. It brings shame to my name. I’ll just get up and jump even higher than that stupid yellow orange thing. Why does it keep changing colours? Decide what colour you want to be, damnit. You ugly, circular, round thing!_ (Is being circular a bad thing? Hinata doesn’t know.)

      He hadn’t been able to go to school yesterday after being discharged. Walking had been a lot harder than he’d expected. After all, he’d been bed-bound for a month. Ha! He couldn’t wait to race with Kageyama once he saw him. He couldn’t wait to eat Gari Gari-kun ice pops with Nishinoya, the best senpai ever. They’d all have the best fun ever; be the best team ever. Because he was going in today. Karasuno, the school he’d so proudly represented in his match. He’d tried his best, but the injury had beat him down in the end.

      The weirdest part was that nobody from the team had texted him. He’d messaged Kageyama, asking how the team was, but the setter hadn’t replied. He’d sent the text yesterday though, so maybe Kageyama just hadn’t seen it. The boy _really_ didn’t know how to work technology. He was so bad at it that it was ridiculous.

      His mother knocked on his bedroom door three times and waited a little before poking her head in. “Shouyou, do you want to go to school today—”

      “Yes!” Hinata hopped out of bed, wincing slightly when he landed a little too hard. His knee was still a bit sore, but it wasn’t nothing that a little bit of spiking wouldn’t ward off.

      “Now, remember what the doctor said,” she scolded. “You can’t—”

      “—play volleyball, I know.” _But the doctor’s talking out the side of his neck_ , Hinata’s little voice added. Thankfully, Hinata’s mother couldn’t hear that little voice. She simply nodded in satisfaction and turned to go back out of Hinata’s voice, adding a quick reminder for the boy to be ready to leave in half an hour.

***

      Hinata could hear the sound of volleyball shoes squeaking on the court when he made his way towards the gymnasium. That lovely sound of Mikasa volleyballs smacking against bare forearms, the grunts that ensued whenever a particularly taxing receive was pulled off. The sound of volleyball. Nothing but pure, unadulterated _patience_. _Power_. _Patience_. He loved this sport, all of its complexities and benefits. And he loved his teammates.

      “Hey guys!” Hinata walked in, waving at everyone with a big smile on his face. “I’m back from the hospital. I can’t do much running yet,” he said, pointing down at the brace on his knee, “but I _can_ spike!”

      His enthusiasm was met with silence. Takeda was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Ukai, now that Hinata thought of it. He would’ve asked where they were, but when he saw the looks that he was receiving, he let his lips slam shut. They all looked so… _angry_.

      “You couldn’t spike when we needed it the most,” Tsukishima finally said, dropping his volleyball and walking towards the orange-haired boy. “Have you forgotten, Hinata? If you can’t spike, you’re useless to this team.” _Useless_. The term hit him deep in his heart, caused it to throb in a way Hinata never knew possible.

      “S…Shut up, Stingyshima. Man, he’s such a meanie. Right, guys?” Everyone was still quiet. _Why won’t they speak?_ Asahi was the next to drop his volleyball. However, he didn’t say anything. He simply rushed outside, able to sense what was about to happen. He didn’t want to see it; his heart would surely weaken if he did.

      “What you did was selfish,” Yamaguchi finally managed to say. “There were perfectly fine players on the bench that could’ve played in such a crucial moment. We were at a deuce, Hinata. But you were only thinking about yourself, weren’t you? You were only thinking about becoming the best middle blocker ever.”

      To say Hinata was shocked was an understatement. He’d injured himself more than necessary when he took that fall, yet here he was being called _selfish_. Wasn’t Kageyama going to defend him like he always did? Kageyama…

      “That’s not true… I stayed _because_ I was thinking about the team.”

      “Suga and Daichi aren’t going to say anything to you because they’re too nice, but you messed up. Big time.” Yamaguchi looked like he wanted to cry. Everyone still looked hurt, they looked _angry_. Frustrated. “They’re in their last year, and they had their chances crushed because of you. You can’t keep being such a selfish player. You’re not Bokuto. This team doesn’t exist to serve you.”

      “What. You’re kicking me out?”

      It was then that Ukai came back in at last, having smoked a cigarette outside. When he saw that the orange-haired middle blocker was back, he froze in the spot for a moment. He’d heard a lot of the abuse that the team members had been spouting about Hinata over the past few weeks, calling him “selfish”, “useless”, “a waste of space”. He knew that this could get bad; it could get bad _quick_.

      “Hinata,” Coach Ukai eventually said, tapping the boy on the shoulder. He turned away, away from the team, and faced the coach. “First of all, I want you to know this has nothing to do with what happened last month. We had a call from your mother. She said you’d probably still try and come to practice. But, your brace…” He looked down at the white brace, which was pretty much the only reason Hinata could walk around without too much pain.

      “It’s fine. I can still do things… I’m not useless.”

      “Hinata. This happened _because_ you pushed yourself too hard,” Coach Ukai reminded the orange-haired middle blocker, who was clenching his fists together in frustration. “Meniscal injuries are serious. You’ll only make it worse.”

      “We don’t need him on our team!—”

      “Yamaguchi,” Coach Ukai snapped. The brunette shut his lips. “Hinata, you fought brave. You fought valiantly. I don’t want you to have any regrets—”

      “He should!” Suga’s fists were clenched in frustration. “You can’t keep coddling him! Why do you think he’s such a selfish player? Don’t you remember what he was like at the training camp? Ranting on about how he wouldn’t be able to be on the court if it wasn’t for Kageyama—”

      “You’re all being selfish players right now!” Suga stopped ranting when he saw that Coach Ukai was finally beginning to lose his temper. “Do you not see this brace on Hinata’s knee? Do you not see how much you’re hurting him right now? The only thing that _any_ of you are thinking about is the loss. You’re not thinking about your teammate. While it’s important not to forget a loss, this is too far.”

      The silence that followed had Hinata wishing that the earth would just swallow him up. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had already punished him by giving him this _goddamn injury_.

      “You’re all going to apologise to Hinata. And then you’re all going to do five drills of diving receives.” There were some irritated murmurs and groans, but everyone reluctantly walked off the court and formed a line. Then, they all forced out a ‘Sorry’ and bowed their heads slightly.

      “Hinata. I think it’s best if you go right now,” Coach Ukai said. “Although, you’re welcome to come and watch practice any time.”

      “Thank you, Coach.” Hinata managed to catch Kageyama’s eye at last. He wasn’t looking at the middle blocker with disdain in his eyes. There was no irritation. Just… _sadness_. But all too soon, Kageyama was turning away and going over to the rest of his teammates to perform diving receives. Hinata walked out of the gymnasium. The doors slammed shut. This must be what it feels like to be shut off from the world, Hinata wondered. Volleyball had been his life and he’d been cut off from his supply. _This is what it feels like_.

      He’d never wanted to cry so much in his life.


	2. In Sadness I Lumber

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "If we win the match tomorrow, I'll kiss you."  
> and just like that, Hinata fell even harder for the boy sitting right next to him.

      For the entire day, he was blanked and snubbed by people he’d previously been able to call friends. Even _Kageyama_ had avoided talking to Hinata. He didn’t understand. Although, Hinata very much remembered the promise that he’d made with Kageyama the night before the match. They’d been standing in their spot. Hinata’s favourite place. From that spot, they could see the bustling restaurants and nightclubs of Sendai, bright and colourful against the lifeless night sky. The contrast was seen by some to be jarring, but Hinata loved it. Adored it, in fact. Kageyama and Hinata had discovered the spot when they’d been trying to find a shortcut to get home one day, and it had become a little habit of theirs. They’d rush to that spot whenever they were feeling sad, and the other would know where to go.

      Hinata was at that spot right now; he’d sent Kageyama the text. _The rain’s falling_. That was their little code which meant “I’m not in the best of moods, so come to the spot. Please”. It didn’t matter if the rain wasn’t actually falling, that was the text they’d send. Right now, it was still bright outside, so Hinata couldn’t see that stark contrast he adored so much. How could the ground be so lively when the sky’s the best place to be? He loved to fly, oh he loved it so.

      He sat down on a nearby rock, stretched out his legs and shut his eyes. He’d allow himself to remember the conversation he’d shared with Kageyama before the match against Shiratorizawa.

***

      “Hey, dumbass. You’re late.” Kageyama’s eyes were narrowed at the orange-haired middle blocker, who was approaching on foot.

      “One of the wheels on my bike went flat. I had to take it home and then walk back over here,” Hinata offered as explanation.

      “So. _You_ told me to come here, yet you kept me waiting for an hour when you could’ve just come straight here and then taken the bike home _afterwards_?” Kageyama was far from impressed. In fact, he probably could’ve punched the shorter boy if he’d had the energy. However, practice had been taxing. He didn’t have much energy left.

      “Sorry,” Hinata mumbled. “I brought a peace offering.” He held up a paper bag with two meat buns inside. Already, Kageyama could smell that lovely scent from where he was sitting.

      “Gimme.” Kageyama’s eyes lit up as Hinata walked towards him and handed him a meat bun. The two sat together on a log, watching the night sky in front of them as they silently chewed on their meat buns. The stars were appearing, one by one. They were like little pearls of hope, so close that Hinata felt like he could cup them in his hands and pull them down to the earth. He wanted that hope. Right now, he needed all the hope he could get.

      “Hinata. You’re not nervous for tomorrow, are you?”

      Hinata turned to face his setter. “Course not,” he responded stubbornly. “I’ll thrash Shiratorizawa.”

      Kageyama chuckled. “Good. I would’ve had to hit you if you were having second thoughts.” He reached out and grabbed Hinata’s hair. It wasn’t painful, though. He seemed to be giving Hinata a head rub. That’s what it felt like. “Every time I grab your head, it seems to give me good luck. I don’t think I’ve ever lost a match when I’ve done this to you.”

      Hinata could feel his cheeks beginning to flush. However, it was pretty dark, so Kageyama probably couldn’t see. He was thankful for that; thankful that the setter couldn’t see how nervous he had him.

      “Anyway, you’re the one who called me here. What’s up?” He let Hinata’s head go at last.

      “I lied. I’m nervous.”

      Kageyama sighed. “I knew it.”

      “Don’t be angry—”

      “Idiot. I’m not angry,” he said, taking Hinata’s chin into his right palm. “I would’ve been angry if you’d pretended to be okay when you weren’t.” Hinata _knew_ this was the time to tell Kageyama the truth, that he had a pain in his knee that wasn’t going away, that he was _scared_ that his knee would fail him when he needed it the most… but the look Kageyama was giving him… he couldn’t. He couldn’t destroy the mood, not like that.

      “Oh.” That was all Hinata could say. He couldn’t tell his setter the truth. All he could do was let out the noncommittal phrase. _Oh_.

      “Hey. What do you say we make a deal?” Kageyama was still giving him _that_ look, the one which made him want to melt into the log beneath him. Hinata’s the sun, isn’t _he_ meant to be the one making Kageyama feel like he wants to melt? _This is sabotage_ , Hinata thought to himself. _Kageyama’s stealing my sunbeams. But I don’t mind_.

      “Go ahead.”

      “If we win the match tomorrow, I’ll kiss you.” He let Hinata’s chin go, but he didn’t move any further away from the middle blocker. _Oh God. Does he know what he’s doing?_ Hinata had gone a very noticeable bright red, one that he knew Kageyama could see for sure. _Not only is Kageyama a monster when it comes to setting, he’s evil. Absolutely evil_.

      “I… wah… eh…” All Hinata could do was stutter. He couldn’t get a proper sentence out. Kageyama had never shown any sort of romantic interest in him, but suddenly he was offering to _kiss_ him? Why?

      “Japanese, please.”

      “Shut up.” Kageyama smirked at the orange-haired boy’s response. _God_. He really doesn’t realise what he’s doing to Hinata, does he? “And don’t say _if_. Say when. Because I’m going to do everything I can to make sure we win.”

      “Ah.” Kageyama put a suitable distance between the two of them at last, but his smirk hadn’t faded. “I wasn’t actually sure if you liked me or not. I just wanted to see how you’d respond.”

      “Eh?”

      “I wasn’t expecting you to actually _go_ with it.” Kageyama laughed, but it wasn’t mocking. It was earnest. “Goddamnit, Hinata. You’re always finding new ways to surprise me.”

      “You’re so confusing, Kageyama-kun…”

      Kageyama stood up and offered his hand to Hinata. Once the middle blocker took hold of his hand, he pulled it up, almost making Hinata fall over with the sheer strength of it all. Hinata’s knee throbbed painfully, causing the boy to lurch slightly.

      “Oi.” Kageyama caught him just as he was about to fall, his arm at Hinata’s chest. He pushed him back up onto his feet before steadying him by the shoulders, making sure that the middle blocker wouldn’t fall over again. “I didn’t even pull you that hard. How’d you fall?”

      “Just tripped,” Hinata responded. “It’s cool.”

      “Alright. Well, I want to show you something. The other day, I was walking around and I found this…” Kageyama was beginning to walk off, leaving Hinata to trail behind him. _Throb, throb, throb_. His knee was throbbing, but so was his heart. They say love makes you do crazy things. In Hinata’s case, it was making him walk on a clearly-injured knee.

      Finally, they reached a small clearing. There was a box of pine cones and luaus, which had probably been left there ages ago. Kageyama got down on his knees and began to pull them out, so Hinata followed suit. Once they got to the bottom, they found a wallet.

      “You open it,” Kageyama said. So Hinata did. He opened the wallet, took the little slip of paper from inside. He unfolded it; read it.

 

**If you’re reading this, it means that I got you to admit your feelings first. Haha. First the worst, second the best.**

**I like you, by the way. Make sure we win tomorrow, alright? If we win tomorrow, it means that we can keep winning together.**

**-Kageyama**

 

      Hinata looked up to see that Kageyama was wrapping the luau around his neck, pulling back once he’d finished. He was clearly admiring his handiwork on Hinata’s neck.

      “Perfect,” Kageyama eventually said. He could’ve just as easily been talking about Hinata himself, but the middle blocker was way too flustered to even _focus_ on that. _Damn you, Kageyama Tobio_. “Hold onto that luau, alright?” It was then that a gust of wind came and blew the letter out of Hinata’s hand, much to his dismay. Now he had no proof that this majestic setter in front of him really liked him, _really_.

      “Oh no…”

      “You really need a piece of paper to remind you that we’re going to win?” Kageyama raised an eyebrow at the middle blocker.

      “Shut up. Of course not.” Hinata stood up and slapped his hand to his chest proudly. “Karasuno! Will! Win! I! Promise! You—”

      Kageyama clamped his hand to Hinata’s lips. “Shut up, dumbass! It’s late!” As much as the middle blocker had grown on him, he could still be irritating. _Really_ irritating. He was lucky that Kageyama didn’t tend to mind that quality of his too much.

      When Kageyama finally unclamped his hand from Hinata’s lips, it was to tell him something. “It’s late, you know. We should be getting home, especially since we have the match tomorrow.”

      “Yeah,” Hinata responded. He needed time to let this information sink into his head. _Kageyama likes him_. “We should.”

      “You go that way, and I go this way,” Kageyama said, pointing to the right. Hinata went to the left. “See you tomorrow.”

      “See you.”

***

      “Hinata. _Hinata_.” The middle blocker jerked up all of a sudden, having had his nap interrupted. He blinked a couple of times, allowing his vision to clear. But then, he realised. Kageyama was standing in front of him. _Thank God. He doesn’t hate me_ , Hinata thought. It looked like everyone else on the team hated him, but he didn’t.

      “Kageyama.” He wasn’t sitting down. In fact, he didn’t seem like he planned to stay for long. But he still had that pained, agitated look in his eyes. _Why?_

      “Why did you lie to me, Hinata? You said… you said that we’d win.” Kageyama looked like he would break apart any second. And he definitely had the right to. He’d been playing volleyball from the second he’d learnt how to walk. His father had been a volleyball fanatic, so he’d taught Tobio all about the sport. Hinata, on the other hand, had only started playing in junior high. Kageyama had put his tears, sweat and blood into volleyball, more so than anyone else. He’d trusted Hinata to make that final shot, and he hadn’t.

      “Kageyama…”

      His eyes glanced down at Hinata’s brace. Then back up at his face, which looked so drained. So empty. “Did you forget what I told you at the training camp already? Your selfishness… it’ll bring down the team. This, Hinata. You’re not only being selfish to the team, you’re being selfish to _yourself_. Look what you’ve done. What can you do now, Hinata?” Kageyama looked like he was close to tears. He was so _angry_ that he wasn’t sure how to express it. He’d been so confident in their victory, _Karasuno’s victory_ , but it had all gone crashing because of one bad fall. One. One lenient referee, one unobservant team that hadn’t realised that Hinata had been limping his way through all five sets. That was what had happened.

      “Do you hate me?”

      “Well, I certainly don’t love you right now.” _Oh God_. Hinata would’ve preferred to hear Kageyama say that he hated him rather than _that_. It hurt. It really did. “We can all understand wanting to be on the court when it’s just little things like finger injuries and nosebleeds. But Hinata… you don’t hide something like _this_ from the team. You don’t.”

      “Well, maybe you shouldn’t have told me you’d kiss me if we won! That was what kept me going, alright?!” Hinata was sick of being blamed. He’d heard the whispers. _Apparently he didn’t spike the ball on purpose. Apparently he pretended to be injured just so Karasuno would lose. Apparently, he got bribed by Shiratorizawa’s coach to mess the match up on purpose._ The rumours went on. None of them had been true; Hinata had spent every single minute fighting. But if nobody believed it, was it really a fact? A fact was meant to be something which was widely viewed as being common sense or correct. But when these facts were being disproved by everyone around him, did it make those facts nothing but mere fantasies?

      “So you’re blaming _me_ for our loss? What the hell, Hinata?” Kageyama took a sharp step back from the middle blocker. “You must be kidding me. You _must_ be kidding me,” he repeated, more to himself than to Hinata.

      “I’m not—”

      “I can’t look at you right now.” Kageyama walked away. When Hinata called his name, the dark-haired boy turned sharply, donning the same glare he had been when he first met Hinata. “Delete my number.” That was the last thing Kageyama said before walking away for good, not even giving Hinata a chance to defend himself.


	3. Every Tear I Shed is For You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the first time, Hinata learns how it feels to be truly hated.

      When Hinata got to school the next day, he was tripped up upon entering his classroom. He’d been glared at, had rubbers thrown at him and he’d even been pushed by a couple of people. Kageyama was there, but he wasn’t sitting in the desk beside Hinata’s. He’d moved to a desk nearer the front, right next to a guy he’d complained about hating just months ago.

      “Kage—” Hinata was shoved yet again, this time by a girl. There were a whole bunch of them, actually. They cast dirty glares at Hinata as they walked to the back and sat down. Meanwhile, Kageyama still wasn’t looking at Hinata. It didn’t look like he planned on talking to him.

      Letting out a deep sigh, he got to his desk and sat down. “Ow!” He jumped right back up. There’d been a safety pin on his chair. Nobody seemed to care that he’d been hurt though. There was just some laughing from a couple of people and some pitying glances. _Why is this happening? I put my all into Karasuno, they were there to cheer when I was flying, but when my wings stop working, they stop cheering?_

      When he finally managed to sit down without incident, he noticed that there was a sticky note on his desk. Considering the morning he’d had, he had to stop and wonder whether the note would somehow trigger some sort of chain reaction that would result in Hinata getting beheaded (or even worse). He looked around himself, then at the ground, then at his hands. Finally, he lifted the note, letting out a sigh of relief when nothing happened. But, when he actually saw what the note _said_ , he found himself wishing that he _had_ been beheaded.

 

**Filthy fag. You’re the reason our school didn’t make it to nationals. What, were you too busy checking out Kageyama’s ass? Fucking creep.**

 

      Hinata recoiled in shock from the note. All he could do was stare at it. He couldn’t believe that someone could be so vile, so _hurtful_. This was the kind of thing that would only happen in those TV shows where they overdramatise the bullying for comedic effect. This wasn’t meant to happen in real life. _Wait_. Realisation flashed in his mind at last. Hinata had never told anyone that he was gay. The only person who knew was Kageyama. _Kageyama_ … _he must’ve told everyone…_

      “Alright, class! First of all, I’ll tell you the good news. The girls’ volleyball team has made it to Nationals,” the teacher was saying, wearing a proud grin on his face. “They’ll be battling their victory out in the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.”

      “The boys could’ve made it too if it wasn’t for that _fag_ ,” Hinata heard one guy hiss. _No. Why are his eyes watering? He doesn’t want to cry. They’re just being ignorant, he knows that_. But the whispers wouldn’t stop. Hinata felt alone, so alone. He could feel the judgemental glares surrounding him, the sudden air of coldness around the classroom. The silence was like a venom, seeping into his skin and slowly draining him of everything he knows.

      _Why would Kageyama do that?_

_He liked me, didn’t he?_

_Doesn’t he care?_

      He can’t take the voices in his head anymore. They can’t agree on _anything_ now that Hinata’s alone. He stands up, grabs his backpack and calmly walks out of the classroom, even while the teacher’s mid-lecture. He tries to interrogate Hinata on what he’s doing, but the boy’s working on autopilot. He leaves the classroom and breaks into a sprint, ignoring the painful aching in his knee. He knows that the gym will be empty right now. He can go and practice.

      It’s the only way they’ll stop _hating him_. He doesn’t want to be hated. To be hated, it’s worse than to not be known at all. When you’re not known, you can make a name for yourself. But Hinata was hated. There was nothing he could do to change that, _nothing_. He couldn’t just magically forget his feelings for Kageyama. But he couldn’t pursue them either, not now. He couldn’t pursue anything, not with this _damn leg_.

      He can’t stop crying. He’s looking for somewhere, _anywhere_. The hallway’s empty. But the walls are closing in on him, swallowing him up and the earth’s refusing to let Hinata go through. _You’re not good enough to be swallowed up by the earth_. Hinata didn’t belong on the ground. He didn’t belong in the sky. So, where? Where did he belong?

      “Fucking fag!” He’s pushed over by another first year, who darts off before Hinata can realise who he is. Hinata lands on his knees, but it’s not as painful as it was in the Shiratorizawa match. He looks around himself. To anyone else, it would’ve been a normal hallway. Bright display boards, shiny white floors. But all Hinata could see was that poster, staring him in the face. _Support the boys’ volleyball team in making it to Nationals!_ Yachi had made that. Hinata was mid-spike and Kageyama was there, looking just as intimidating as he usually did.

      With nothing to do, he buries his head into his hands and cries.

      _I’m sorry for trying too hard_.


	4. I Am Awaiting the Sunrise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No matter how many times he gets beat down, he'll always spring back up.  
> After all, the sun has to return to the sky come midday.

      Next morning, Kageyama’s surprised to hear that there’s movement in the gym. He was always the first one there — he’d go and practice his serves around six-thirty before everyone else came at seven. Originally, he would’ve spent the time practicing quicks and back attacks with Hinata, but now that he was off the team, Kageyama was on his own. Again.

      That’s why he was shocked when he walked in to see that Hinata was darting about, tossing up balls for himself to spike.

      “Hinata!” His head whipped around to face the setter, which meant that he wasn’t paying attention. His body went flying into the net, which unfortunately hadn’t been secured properly. He ended up landing on the ground, tangled up in the net. It was just as messy as you’d expect. “You shouldn’t be in here!”

      “Well, I am.” Hinata wasn’t going to give up just like _that_. It didn’t matter what Kageyama said. At the end of the day, he’d made a promise to defeat Kageyama. There wasn’t any stupid knee injury that could stop that. Even if his knee _was_ hurting, really bad.

      “You…” Kageyama’s hands went up in frustration. It was like he was clutching at the air, desperately trying to clutch hold of _something_ but he couldn’t. He just couldn’t. “You’re such an idiot! You’re hurt!”

      “I wasn’t aware that you cared.” Hinata stood up and calmly began to hang the net back up, not bothering to acknowledge the bruise that he’d just gotten from landing so hard. “It’s alright. I’ll fix the net and then I’ll leave you to it. You probably don’t want to be around a _fag_ like me, right?” He turned around and shot a grin at Kageyama, who seemed stunned by his sudden optimism.

      “Hinata…”

      “Good luck. I heard you have a practice match with Ubugawa next week,” Hinata said, making his way towards the exit. “I believe in you.” He couldn’t lie, he was still hurting. Not only because of his knee, but because of the way Kageyama had betrayed him just like _that_. But it wasn’t in Hinata’s nature to break so easily. He’d keep on killing everyone with kindness; he’d keep on smiling; he’d keep on _going_ because it was the only thing he had left.

      Kageyama was stuttering over his words as Hinata walked through the door and out of sight. The orange head disappeared. Suddenly, the room didn’t seem so bright. _Damnit_. He didn’t understand why he was so angry at Hinata. It’s not like the injury was his fault. _But why would he do that to himself? Why is he so stupid?_

      He whipped out his phone, only to be greeted by the sight of Hinata’s grinning face. The boy had changed Kageyama’s lock screen and he’d never bothered to change it back (mainly because he didn’t know how).

      “It’s like he _wants_ me to feel guilty,” Kageyama muttered to himself, typing in the phone code and clicking onto the volleyball group chat. It was just Daichi and Suga bickering about the best volleyball types. Letting out a sigh, he put his phone down, walked onto the court and picked up a volleyball. He still couldn’t get that last rally out of his mind. _He wasn’t being a coward, was he? He was limping, clearly struggling, and he still managed to hit the toss over the net_. Kageyama kept throwing that same toss, imagining the scene in his mind. He could remember it, the roars of the crowd; the sweat dripping down his forehead; the stress. The heat. It was hot, so hot. His thighs were burning.

      And so was Hinata. His hair, bright like fire itself, blazed as he ran and hit the ball over the net. Right after, he crumpled to the ground, no longer able to go on. And he screamed.

      “Idiot,” Kageyama muttered, shaking his head and walking to the back of the court. It didn’t matter. Kageyama would carry that loss on his shoulders for the rest of his school career; the rest of his three years. He wouldn’t forget it. And as much as he hates it, he won’t forget his feelings for Hinata. But his dreams mean much more to him, _so much more_.

***

      Today, Hinata had his bento tampered with. Someone sprinkled dirt all over the rice and sushi in there when he wasn’t looking, rendering it inedible. That wasn’t all, though. Today, someone left a rusty nail on his chair, a step-up from the safety pin that had been left there yesterday. Fortunately, Hinata had been anticipating that. He plucked it off the chair, laughed to himself and sat down. He then proceeded to read through some manga until class started. He was reading the ever-classic Death Note, thinking about what _he_ would do if he got the Death Note. He’d like to think that he would have the courage to get rid of evil criminals in the world just like Light Yagami, but in reality, he’d probably be too terrified to _touch_ the thing, never mind use it.

      When the bell finally went for the end of the day, Hinata walked out, backpack hoisted up as usual. He’d been able to listen in class today, and he’d actually done pretty well. Now that he didn’t have volleyball on his mind as much, he could actually focus in class. Plus, since nobody was talking to him, he wasn’t getting distracted.

      “You!” Hinata was shoved against a wall all of a sudden, but he was able to regain his balance. He turned around to see that it was a tall, lanky boy from his class. Green hair, narrowed eyes. He had his hand raised, which most likely meant he was about to try and beat Hinata up. So, in response, Hinata simply slapped his outstretched palm and grinned.

      “High five?”

      The green-haired boy growled. “Don’t touch me, fag.”

      Hinata shrugged. “Well, you touched me first. Are you magically gay now? If so, then congrats…”

      “Don’t make a fool of me! You’re just a little gay cripple!” The green-haired boy was trying to hit Hinata, but he just kept dodging his punches. Compared to Kageyama, this boy was slow at throwing hits. _Really_ slow. Hinata’s strategy was to keep him moving until he tired himself out, and then he’d go and get his mother to take him home.

      It took exactly one minute and thirty-eight seconds for the boy to tire himself out. He was on his knees, still throwing half-hearted swings. He was wheezing profanities, trying to get this middle blocker to respond to him somehow. He didn’t seem to realise that Hinata just didn’t care anymore. He’d faced the ultimate blow from Kageyama already. Everything else paled in comparison. There was nothing that anyone could do that would hurt as much as what Kageyama had done.

      “Bye, Cabbage-san,” Hinata said, slipping away from the boy and making his way down the corridor. There didn’t appear to be anyone left in the building now, so he’d be able to make his way out without incident.

***

      The car ride home was silent, save for the occasional hiccups from Hinata’s mother. That’s why Hinata got so excited when he heard his phone bleeping.

      He cleared his throat before answering the phone at last. “Hello?”

      “Hello, Shouyou.” The voice was deep, but it was kind. Welcoming.

      “Dad!” It had been a while since Hinata had last heard from his father. He’d gone on a business trip to Kawagoe two weeks ago, so he’d been way too busy to talk to his son. However, he’d gone to see Hinata in hospital right before leaving, which had cheered him up a lot.

      “I’m sorry for not checking in. How are you?”

      “I’m fine! We’re all going home right now, me and Mom and Natsu.” His little sister was fast asleep in the front seat. The sight brought a smile to Hinata’s lips.

      “That’s good.” His father chuckled. “Hey, keep an eye out for the courier today. There’s a package coming.”

      Hinata could feel himself getting excited. “Package? What package?!”

      “You’ll see, you’ll see. It’s for you, so you can open it once it arrives. I got it for when you told us that you wanted to go pro in volleyball, but…” There was a silence on his end of the line. He wasn’t sure if Hinata had recovered from the shock of the whole event. He knew that his son was able to bounce back from things at a rate which seemed _ridiculous_ , but volleyball had been vital to him. It still was.

      “It’s fine,” Hinata said, breaking the silence at last. “I’m not giving up on that! It’s just a stupid knee injury. Athletes get injured all the time. What, did you get me that meat bun maker I was asking for?”

      His father laughed on the other end, relieved that he didn’t have anything to worry about. “I’m glad you’re not giving up. And you’ll see, I told you. I don’t want you to use the package until I get back though.”

      Hinata could feel himself pouting. “Eh? Why?”

      “Because I said so.” _Man_. Hinata’s father could be so stubborn sometimes. “Anyway, my taxi’s arrived. I’ve got a pretty big meeting today. I’ve got to pitch a new idea to this guy, although I can’t tell you too much about it. If all goes well, then I should be getting promoted.”

      “You can do it. You’re awesome! Although, you’d be more awesome if you told me what the package is…”

      “Patience, Shouyou.” Hinata could practically _feel_ his father raising his eyebrows at him. He didn’t need to see his face to know what his facial expression would look like. “I’ll be back come next week. Hold down things for me until then, alright? You’re—”

      “—the man of the house, I know. I’ll watch over Natsu and help Mom. You don’t need to worry. I’m the most responsible-est person ever.”

      “Somehow, that only makes me worry even more.”

      “So mean!”

      His father chuckled. “I’ll see you soon, alright? Keep me up to date with what’s happening around the house.”

      “Sure thing.” Hinata hung up the phone, wearing a big smile on his face. He loved talking to his father. There was one thing that Hinata could always be confident in — even if everyone at school hated him; even if Kageyama wanted nothing to do with him, he would _never_ get sad. His family wouldn’t let him. They were Hinata’s biggest strength, but Hinata’s biggest weakness.

      Finally, they pulled up outside of the house. Hinata’s mother shook Natsu awake and all three of them got out of the car. Hinata was about to sprint towards the house, only for his mother to grip his shoulder.

      “You’re not meant to run, Shou,” she reminded him with a stern look on her face. “Remember. If you aggravate the injury any further, you could end up damaging your knee permanently.” Hinata knew very well what would happen. He’d end up having to get his kneecap removed. He wouldn’t be able to get an artificial kneecap due to the nature of his injury. He’d be kneecap-less. Even then, he wouldn’t be able to play sports. So, it didn’t make a difference to him either way.

      “Okay, okay.” Once Hinata’s mother unclamped her hand from his shoulder, he decided to do ‘slow-motion’ running. Hinata’s idea of ‘slow’ was different to anyone else’s. In fact, he was the kind of boy who could probably make Usain Bolt look like a snail if he tried hard enough.

      “Shouyou!”

      “What? I’m not running!”

      “Just stop moving,” his mother said, clamping her hand on his shoulder once again. “We’ll _walk_. Like _normal people_.” Hinata had a pouty look on his face, but he didn’t argue. He was simply thinking about all of the ways he could try and burn energy without running or spiking. None came to mind.


	5. I Stand Motionless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link Start!

      It was six p.m. when the courier finally arrived at the door. She was only able to ring the doorbell once before Hinata opened the door and snatched the package out of her hands before slamming the door shut again. Then, he realised that he hadn’t thanked the lady so he opened the door, yelled a loud “Thank you very much!” and slammed the door shut once again. He didn’t hesitate to tear the packaging apart, despite his mother’s protests for him to go and do it in the living room.

      “Package, package, package—”

      “Shouyou, _shut up_ ,” Natsu said, standing at the top of the stairs in her pajamas. “I’m trying to sleep.”

      “Sorry!” It was then that he pulled the device out of the packaging at last. It was a metallic helmet, one which left the face exposed.

      “Hey, what’s that?” Natsu began to patter her way down the stairs, her eyes glued to the helmet. Hinata shrugged his shoulders in response. He was inspecting the gadget, trying to find a clue as to what it could be. There was also a small box-like item at the bottom of the package; the same colour as the helmet. Finally, his eyes glanced upon a word etched onto the helmet. _NerveGear_.

      “NerveGear…”

      Natsu’s eyes lit up in recognition. “Oh! I heard about that! It’s meant to be some super cool thing where you can play games and stuff!” She lifted up the remainders of the package which had been sitting on the stairs and retrieved the little box-like item, looking at it with recognition in her eyes. “You’ve been in hospital, so you probably haven’t heard. The NerveGear puts you into a virtual reality world where you can do whatever you want.”

      “How do you know and not me? That’s not fair,” Hinata grumbled. He was older, how come he didn’t know? _Well, if he hadn’t been kicked off the team, he might’ve discovered the NerveGear earlier_.

      “My friend, Oikawa. He goes to—”

      “The Great King?! Is he trying to find out my volleyball secrets?!” An image of Oikawa bathed in red light appeared in Hinata’s head. He could practically see the vision of Oikawa just stroking his chin while wearing that evil grin of his on his face. And of course, he was purring the sentence “What’s good, chibi-chan?” Hinata could feel a shiver going down his spine just from thinking about it. Oikawa was _scary_.

      “No. Oikawa Takeru,” Natsu said, giving Hinata a puzzled look. “Who’s the Great King?”

      “Who’s Oikawa Takeru? His brother? Does that make him the Great Great King? The Colossal King? The Undefeated King? The Unconquerable—”

      “I don’t know. Oikawa never mentioned family,” Natsu mumbled. “He did mention that he has a really embarrassing uncle. That’s it.”

      “That’s it!” Hinata used his free hand to pump a fist into the air, looking up at the ceiling. “He’s using _you_ to feed my secrets to the Great King!”

      Natsu didn’t even bother to respond. She was used to her brother going off on tangents like this. Sometimes, she found herself wondering if he was _really_ sixteen or not. He didn’t act like it. As a nine-year-old in elementary school, even Natsu was able to remain more composed than her brother. She still loved him, even if he _was_ a bit of an idiot.

      “There’s a game in here,” Natsu said, showing Hinata the open console. “It’s called Visualisation Wars.” His sister was right. The little block inside the console read ‘Visualisation Wars’, written in dramatic-looking katakana. The console couldn’t have been any bigger than Hinata’s feet (which were admittedly small), but if it really held an entire virtual world…

      “Cool!” Hinata took it out of his sister’s hands and sprinted upstairs, planning to go and use it straightaway. He’d already forgotten his father’s warning about not using it until he returned from Kawagoe. “I’m trying this out!”

      “Well, if it shuts you up, go ahead…”

      Hinata roared in excitement as he juggled the helmet and console in his hands, rushing into his room and setting it all up. It was straightforward enough — console goes into cord which goes into helmet — and in no time, Hinata had set it up comfortably by his bed. He could feel excitement buzzing in his blood. _Visualisation Wars_. He’d been feeling down ever since being outed by Kageyama, but maybe this would be just what he needed to pick himself back up.

      He’d forgotten to read the note his father had stuck to the bottom of the console, double-warning him not to play the game inside. Hinata had no idea that his father’s trip to Kawagoe was to get his hands on a console protector, which would prevent any complications from happening while Hinata was in the game. Since the NerveGear was still very new to Japan, there were bound to be slight bugs with the hardware.

      Just when he was about to slip the helmet onto his head, he heard his phone ping with a message. As much as he was tempted to ignore it, it wasn’t in his nature to ignore messages. He prided himself on being able to respond to text messages and phone calls with inhumane speed.

      Sighing, he placed his helmet down and picked his phone up. His heartbeat picked up slightly when he saw that the message was from Kageyama. It was their secret code.

 

**The rain’s falling. Urgently.**

**-Kageyama [Sent 18:36]**

 

      _No_. Hinata shook his head. He can’t go see Kageyama, not now. Although he was still able to act civil towards the setter, he knew he wouldn’t be able to hold back his irritation if he went back to the spot. Besides, Hinata was done with the volleyball team. He wasn’t giving up on volleyball; he was giving up on the team which hadn’t bothered to go and visit him in hospital. Even the Shiratorizawa coach had gone to visit him in hospital, along with some of the Shiratorizawa members. Inouka, Kenma and Kuroo had come all the way down from Tokyo once they’d heard about what had happened to him. The news had been devastating — Hinata would never be able to play volleyball again. But what had been more devastating was the way his team had just turned away from him. How they’d watched as he got kicked down to the ground, again and again. How they’d listened as people bad-mouthed him, called him an _attention seeker_ , a _fag_.

      Hinata was done with Kageyama.

      He was undeniably and utterly infatuated with the setter. Nothing could change that, absolutely nothing. He missed their morning conversations, their days together at their little scenery spot. He missed every last second of it. But, if Kageyama was really willing to out Hinata just for losing a match, he wanted nothing to do with the setter. Kageyama was gay himself, yet he was letting Hinata get all the hate for it. Hate that _he’d caused by outing him_. Hinata wasn’t going to out him back though. He was just going to keep his distance and be kind, just like he always was. Hinata didn’t hold grudges.

 

**The forecast says there’s no rain tonight. Or any other night.**

**-Hinata [Sent 18:38]**

 

      Almost instantly, his phone bleeped with a response from the setter. Hinata was wishing that he wasn’t so tempted to respond to every text message that came his way. But he needed to get Kageyama out of the way before he could relax and try out the NerveGear.

 

**I don’t know what weatherman you’re listening to, because the rain’s falling pretty hard.**

**-Kageyama [Sent 18:38]**

**I need to see you. There’s a page about you on social media…**

**-Kageyama [Sent 18:39]**

**\---**

**Stop it. If it’s the hate page, I know. I’m surprised you didn’t start it, Mr “I’ll-Out-People-Even-Though-I’m-Gay-Myself”.**

**-Hinata [Sent 18:40]**

**I had feelings for you, you know. That hurt.**

**-Hinata [Sent 18:40]**

**I don’t want to see you again. Leave me alone.**

**-Hinata [Sent 18:41]**

**\---**

**Hinata, listen to me damnit. I didn’t know this would happen. I mentioned it in passing to the volleyball team and it spread…**

**-Kageyama [Sent 18:42]**

**Hinata.**

**-Kageyama [Sent 18:44]**

**Stop ignoring me, damnit. Can you please come to our spot?**

**-Kageyama [Sent 18:47]**

 

      A few moments later, a call came in, predictably enough from the setter himself. Hinata had just been staring blankly at the phone, wondering if Kageyama really was that stupid. Hinata had explicitly told Kageyama that he didn’t want anyone else to know, but he’d _mentioned it in passing_ despite that? Hinata might’ve thrown his phone against the wall at that moment if he didn’t need it so desperately.

      It was five phone calls later when Hinata finally answered the phone.

      “I’m busy. Leave me alone, Kageyama.”

      “No. You need to let me explain.”

      “Explain what? You hated me less than 24 hours ago.” Hinata was irritated that Kageyama was managing to destroy his good mood. He’d managed to stay in high moods when he had people swearing at him, putting dirt in his food, even putting things on his seat. But with a series of texts, Kageyama had managed to put a damper on his sunny mood.

      “The rain’s falling,” he repeated.

      “I’m not coming to the spot.” Hinata sighed. “Don’t you still have volleyball practice? Go do your setting—”

      “I quit.”

      “—and back attacks and what… wait, _what_? You quit?” Hinata took the phone away from his ear, stared down at the device. It was glowing bright with the image of Kageyama’s face. The seconds were ticking by. And that was definitely Kageyama’s voice he’d just heard. _He quit?_

      “I was angry because you were able to play like that even when your knee was so badly injured. You’re the reason we were able to score two sets from Shiratorizawa in the first place,” Kageyama quietly admitted. “I don’t want to play if you’re not on the team.”

      “Team.” Hinata scoffed. “Say, Kageyama. Who _was_ the one that made that hate page? The alias was Gun Gun. Isn’t that the brand of your favourite yoghurt?”

      “What? You think I made it?”

      “I _know_ you made it,” Hinata snarled, suddenly overcome by a burst of anger. “There were things on there that only you know, alright? And of course, everyone else decided to pitch in with hate about me. You know, there’s only so long I can go pretending that I don’t care—”

      “I didn’t make it!”

      “Well, you outed me! I wouldn’t put it past you to do something so petty!”

      “I’m not like that!”

      “Well! You’re—”

      Natsu poked her head into her brother’s room, looking even more irritated than she had last time. “Shouyou, _shut up_.”

      “Sorry.” Hinata took a deep breath in, deep breath out. His sister rolled his eyes before leaving, although the door was slightly ajar. Hinata could feel himself beginning to relax. _He lost his temper_. He looked at the phone, where he could still hear Kageyama barking down his ‘facts’. He hung up and loosened his grip on the device, letting it drop to the floor beneath him. It rung again, but this time, Hinata placed it in a drawer and set his phone to silent. Kageyama wouldn’t bother him now.

      He went towards the NerveGear helmet and slipped it onto his head, slightly frustrated at how it was refusing to contain all of his hair. While his hair was wild and curly, it wasn’t _that_ big.

      He eventually had to settle for a small sprig of hair that was poking out at the nape. After all, he’d managed to contain everything else. He laid down on the bed, closed his eyes and waited for something to happen.

      It took a couple of minutes before it finally happened. There was a button, _Link Start_ , but Hinata couldn’t press it. He was trying to press it with his will, but it didn’t seem to be working.

      “Why won’t the link start?!” Hinata wasn’t sure what he’d done, but the second the words ‘link start’ left his lips, there was an explosion of colours. Buttons, swirling patterns, everything he could’ve ever dreamed of. It was _amazing_.

      After a few minutes of introduction, he found himself standing in a field. He was alone, all alone. But there was a note in front of him, attached to a rock. He tried to walk towards it, but he found himself running. He tripped over and landed on his bad knee.

      “Ow!”

      He heard low chuckling from nearby. Looking up, he saw that there was a dark-haired man who looked suspiciously like Kageyama. “Hey. You know that doesn’t hurt, right?”

      Hinata looked down at his knee. _No brace_. In fact, he was in his volleyball clothing. _Woah_. He pulled on his shirt. The number ten was proudly displayed there, just as usual. He felt a bit taller as well. “What is this?”

      “I’m just the tutorial guy. I take the form of the last person you thought about,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. He pulled out a mirror, regarded himself with a smile on his face. “Damn. I wish I could keep this form forever.” One hand reached out to stroke his — well, Kageyama’s — hair appreciatively. “Man. My hair’s so _soft_. This is rad.”

      “What is this?” Hinata repeated. He was becoming impatient.

      “Visualisation Wars. You’re in World One right now, which is your personal world. Think of it as a home or a training ground. If you think about something, then it’ll appear. For example, you’re thinking about the person I am right now, so I’m here. You’re thinking about whatever sport that uniform belongs to, so you’re wearing this uniform. Go on, think about something.” Hinata was sceptical, but he did what the man said. He thought about a volleyball.

      Moments later, a meat bun popped out from thin air, floating right in front of Hinata.

      “Is that what you were thinking about?”

      Hinata sighed. “No. I was thinking about a volleyball.”

      The man chuckled. “You know, it’s harder than you think. If your thoughts deviate for even a second, it’ll completely alter your request. You also have to execute the visual in a certain way. You’ve got to focus on it, squint your eyes, tense your muscles and push with your mind. Some people prefer to lean forward a bit when they’re visualising too. If you don’t do it right, you won’t be able to visualise it right. Hey, if you’re not going to eat that, can I have it?” Hinata didn’t respond. “Thanks, man.” The Kageyama lookalike grabbed the meat bun and finished the entire thing in two bites, which irritated Hinata. _You’re meant to savour a meat bun_.

      “So. I can envision people, items, but are there any limitations?”

      “Everything’s possible. It’s called Visualisation Wars because it’s a battle with your own mind to give you what you want. In effect, you’re learning how to conquer your mind. Some people use this game to be in relationships with celebrities. Some use it to be famous. And some use it to fix mistakes they made in the past.” The Kageyama lookalike chuckled to himself and shrugged his shoulders. “There _are_ limitations, but it would take me too long to explain them all to you. You’ll have to figure out the rules as you go along. Now, it’s time to give yourself a player name. Remember how to browse the internet safely: never use your real-life name.”

      “But I’m in my own world! I’m allowed to use my own name!”

      The man shrugged his shoulders. “Well, do whatever you want. However, I should remind you. There’s a gathering once a week where all the players convene in the main world, Sekai, to meet one another. This week’s gathering will be on Saturday, so take this time to get used to the world. Now, your user.”

      “Hi—” Hinata stopped himself before the word could leave his lips. He could have an even _cooler_ name, like Rolling Thunder or Little Giant. _No, no_. “Shou… Shogun!” Of _course_. He could call himself Shogun. That was the coolest thing _ever_.

      “Hishou Shogun?” Hinata was about to say _no_ , but he stopped himself. Shouted the name in his head, then whispered it. Imagined Kageyama’s voice saying it to him. _Hishou Shogun_. _It sounds cool_ …

      “Yeah. I… I’m Hishou Shogun.”

      The man chuckled. “Alright, Hishou-kun. Have fun. I’m going to disappear now.”

      “Wait! I still have questions!”

      He sighed. “What is it? I’ve got to go to the next player. Oh _God_. I have to appear as a six-foot troll with boobs…” He shuddered at the thought of it. “Oh God…”

      “I know you said it’ll take you too long to explain, but what are the most important limitations I need to know? I’ll try and figure out the rest, but please. I need to know,” Hinata insisted. The Kageyama lookalike seemed pretty irritated, but it didn’t matter. Hinata wanted answers.

      “This game’s been around for months. Come on, you’re telling me you don’t know any of this?” The guy shook his head at Hinata — well, Shogun — and kicked a nearby rock. “Everything you visualise here will disappear once you log out. You’ll have to reimagine everything every time you log in. You have a health bar and a stamina bar, both of which will go down if you overexert yourself by visualising something outside of your skill level. Food will usually bring them back up. Also, for every ten minutes you’re asleep, you’ll regain one health point. Figure the rest out while you go, Shou. I’m off!” The guy transformed into the troll, although Hinata was only able to see a brief flash of his transformation before he disappeared.

      “Damnit.” Hinata was walking around, trying to get the hang of it. _So, if I will my foot to go forward like this, it’ll do it_. It took him quite a while, but soon, he was able to walk around just like a normal person. It looked like he wouldn’t be able to play his simulated volleyball today. He’d have to settle for figuring out how to walk and run and spike. In effect, he was going to have to learn it all over again.

      He was ready. _So_ ready.


	6. As I Am Falling Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It’s like you don’t have an injury,” he eventually said. “The way you keep running, again and again.”

      It was Friday morning when Hinata found himself going to school. It was six a.m., more than enough time for him to do a little practice in the school gym. He knew that he’d be able to play volleyball in Visualisation Wars, but he just wanted to remember how it felt to spike one last time. He had to remember that feeling; he had to remember how it hit his hand. It would help him become the best volleyball player in the world.

      However, a mere five minutes later, he turned around to see that Kageyama was watching him from the door, with the key in his hands. The door to the gym had been locked, so Hinata had used a hair pin to pick his way through. Even so, _Kageyama wasn’t meant to be here_. He usually didn’t come to the gym until half-past six. He was early, _too_ early.

      “It’s like you don’t have an injury,” he eventually said. “The way you keep running, again and again.”

      “I thought you quit.”

      “I agreed to stay on until after the game against Ubugawa,” he offered as explanation. “Coach’s pretty distraught.”

      “I’ll leave you to practice.” Hinata dropped the volleyball in his hands and walked off the court, the adrenaline beginning to wear off. Hinata could feel it now, the _pain_. It hurt, it hurt so badly that Hinata wasn’t even sure if he could stand upright. If anyone were to push him over in the hallways today, he wouldn’t be able to get back up.

      “Oi.” Kageyama went to grab Hinata, but the boy took a sharp step back.

      “No. Don’t touch me.” Hinata’s hand stopped short in front of Kageyama’s face, causing the setter to step back. “I’ll see you in class, _Gun Gun_.” Hinata proceeded to limp away, trying to hold his gait the best he could.

      “Class doesn’t start for another two hours!”

      “Doesn’t matter.”

      Kageyama growled in frustration. “Just hear me out, alright? I was frustrated after our loss—”

      “—yes, you were so frustrated that you gave me my very own section on your little bully blog, outed me to the entire school and pretty much told me to go to hell.” Hinata laughed. “What a way to show your frustration, right?” He couldn’t help it when the tears began to stream down his cheeks. He hated that he was breaking down in front of _Kageyama_ of all people, but he couldn’t bear to do this anymore. Kageyama was here getting frustrated as if he had a _right_ to be frustrated. If anything, it’s Hinata who deserves to be frustrated.

      “Hinata…”

      “I really can’t take it anymore.” His knee was beginning to give, so he sat down on the sideline of the court, facing in Kageyama’s direction. “Yesterday, someone gave me a bottle of water. Turns out it was bleach. I only noticed because of the chemical smell. Right after I realised, they told me to drink it so that I’d _go and rot in hell already_. Then, someone poured itching powder into my shoes, as if I’m not disadvantaged enough with this _fucking_ thing on my knee!”

      Kageyama’s eyes widened slightly at the curse word that left Hinata’s lips. He’d never cursed, not once. _Is the bullying this bad?_

      “Ever since the start of the week, I’ve been getting messages from all these strangers. You leaked my phone number, right? You’ve gotten what you want.” Hinata’s eyes were still flooding with tears, making his vision blurry. They threatened to break his composure; his resolve. “I’m not coming back after today. I’m never coming back.” On Saturday, Hinata had a hospital check-up. He knew that he’d have to have surgery on his knee, which would most likely make him unable to return to school for a couple of months. That was more than enough time to let everyone forget him.

      “Wait, Hinata. You’re not threatening to kill yourself… right?”

      “How weak do you think I am? You think that someone calling me mean names is enough to push me over the edge?” Hinata got up onto his feet, slightly unsteady but on his feet nonetheless. “I’m ashamed that I ever liked you. But even then, I hope your life goes well. Have fun, Kageyama. You’re quitting volleyball because of your own selfishness, not because you’re actually physically impaired. You’re quitting it because you think it makes amends, when all you’re doing is crippling the team. You’re a coward. You hide behind lies and false aliases on the internet. That’s what you do. So, quit if you want, Kageyama. Pretend to be noble if you want. At the end of the day, _you’re a coward_.” Hinata was about to walk out, but Kageyama grabbed onto the back of his shirt.

      “Don’t call me a coward!” Kageyama pulled the small boy back with slightly more force than necessary. He stumbled back and tripped, unable to right himself this time. He landed on his side, his head thwacking against the hardwood before lying to rest, facing upwards at the ceiling. The ceiling, it was wide. Vast. But there was a world beyond that ceiling, a world that Hinata could see if he just _closed his eyes_ …

      “Hinata!” Kageyama couldn’t do anything but stare. There was a very noticeable bruise on the side of Hinata’s head, visible even amongst Hinata’s bountiful curls. “ _Hinata_ …”

      Hinata forced his eyes open. He’d been keeping them shut just so that he didn’t have to focus on the pain. His head hurt; his knee felt like it was _burning_. Even then, he didn’t regret coming here to practice. He had the feel of the volleyball imprinted into his skin; his palm. His heart.

      “Run away. That’s what you’re going to do now. You ran away from the match, and you’re going to run away from me too. But hey, call an ambulance before you do that.” Hinata couldn’t move now. The both of them had heard the loud _crack_ upon his fall. He’d landed awkwardly and now his leg was aching. He knew that if he were to shift the brace off his knee, there’d be swelling. A _lot_ of swelling. He couldn’t move, not now.

      “Don’t be stupid. Just… keep your eyes open.”

      “Since when have I ever listened to you?” Hinata shut his eyes out of stubbornness. He remained like that for a couple of moments, but they popped wide open when he felt lips on his. _Kageyama_. He wanted to move, but couldn’t. He was being _kissed_ … it was his first time. And the setter pulled away before he could even think of how to return it.

      “I said, keep your eyes open.” Kageyama was trying to seem nonchalant, but even _he_ seemed quite surprised by what he'd just done.

      “Bakageyama! You didn’t even ask me for permission! What kind of person kisses someone after almost killing them! Are you alright?! What the heck is with you?!” Sure, he wanted it to happen. He’d thought about his first kiss so many times that he’d lost count. But he hadn’t had an ounce of control over it, none at _all_. Kageyama had only kissed him to draw his attention. “This isn’t manga, you can’t just kiss me and expect everything to be OK!”

      “You’re still mad at me?!”

      “Call the damn ambulance already!” Hinata’s phone was in his backpack, which was right by the entrance. Now that he couldn’t move, he couldn’t call for help. He couldn’t call for _anything_.

      “No.”

      Hinata gulped. “What? What do you mean, _no_?”

      “I don’t have my phone on me.” He shrugged. “Sorry.”

      For some reason, Hinata was even _more_ peeved off by Kageyama’s nonchalance. _This stupid, obtuse, little—_

      “You’ve taken my friends from me. You’ve taken my first kiss.” Hinata’s body had been tense before. Rigid, tense. He’d been straining to try and get up, but he couldn’t. He just laid there, still and unmoving. “If you wanted to break me… you’ve done it. So, post _that_ on your blog. Post it.” He would’ve cried, but he _couldn’t_. He just _couldn’t_. Hinata had read somewhere that after experiencing a certain level of pain, your body just shuts off. You stop feeling, you stop _living_. Maybe that’s what Hinata was going through now. His body was numb, still. He felt like he was dead, but for some reason, he was still breathing. _Just die, already_.

      _Just die_.

***

      When Hinata next opened his eyes, it was in a hospital bed. His mother was sitting at his bedside, clutching his arm and sobbing as if she were a small child. When she realised that Hinata had awoken, she let out a deep gasp, whispered ‘Thank God’ to herself.

      “Shouyou,” his mother said. “You probably don’t remember. But, you were brought here by your volleyball coach. Ukai, was it? Yeah. That was four days ago. Your kneecap was shattered to the point of no return, so they had to do an emergency surgery on your knee. You were in the operation room for four hours. They’ve removed your kneecap, but they can’t put in a prosthetic one.”

      “So… I…” Hinata coughed. His throat was dry, _really_ dry.

      “Water.” His mother held out a glass of water to him, which he gulped down gratefully.

      Once he’d finally managed to create a sentence in his mind, he formed the words with his lips. “So, I can’t walk.”

      “No. You can walk. You’ll struggle even more without the kneecap. You’ll need to use crutches and you’ll be put on a higher dosage of painkillers. You’ll still need a brace, but they’ll be giving you a slightly stronger one.” His mother looked close to tears. “Why did you do it, Shouyou? You could’ve played light sports if you’d just let it _heal_. Now you can’t play sports, full stop.”

      “It’s fine.” Hinata managed to muster a smile on his face. “Really. It’s fine. When do I get to go home, Mom? I want to sleep in my own bed.”

      “Well, they want to keep you here until the end of the week. It’ll take you a while to recover from the surgery. They want to do physiotherapy to help you—”

      “But can’t I do that at home? I won’t go anywhere. I won’t move. I’ll stay in my room, you can bring food up every now and again and I can come to do the physio when I need to,” Hinata insisted. He didn’t want to see these white walls, these white ceilings. He didn’t want to be in this hospital gown, either. He didn’t like the way it showed everyone his butt whenever he stood up.

      “Well… it’s a possibility,” his mother admitted. “But Shouyou, you also said that you wouldn’t play volleyball. Look what happened.”

      “Please.” Hinata grabbed his mother’s hand. “I need to be at home.” Hinata wasn’t sure if it was his paranoia speaking, but he was scared that some bullies would find out he was in hospital and come poison him while he was asleep. Considering what had happened over the past few days, it definitely wasn’t far-fetched.

      “Fine.” She sighed. “Stay here for the night, okay? See how you heal. I’ll talk to the doctor about letting you heal up at home.”

      “Okay.”

***

      Meanwhile, Karasuno were in their third set with Ubugawa. They were losing 2-0; coming back was beginning to seem hopeless. All of Kageyama’s tosses kept falling short or going too long, much to everyone’s surprise. They’d had to pull him off the court and get _Kinoshita_ to do setting, even though he wasn’t an official setter. The third years had officially left the team, so it was only the second and first years. The team was incomplete; utterly incomplete. There wasn’t anything that anyone could do about it.

      Kageyama could feel himself beginning to self-destruct. _I don’t want to hurt him, do I? Why do I keep doing it? I know I don’t want to, but it keeps happening!_

      “Kageyama-kun.” The setter turned his head to face Takeda, who was looking back at him. “Don’t sweat it. Just keep breathing; everything will be fine.”

       It wasn’t. The ball dropped on Karasuno’s side of the court, giving Ubugawa the 3-0 win. They’d lost the third set 25-5. Three of Karasuno’s points had been because of Ubugawa’s faults. There was a roar from Ubugawa’s side of the court, while the Karasuno team looked dejected. They hadn’t been able to make a comeback ever since their disastrous loss to Shiratorizawa at Sendai Gymnasium. Right now, it was beginning to look hopeless.

      Half an hour later, after Ubugawa had long departed, it was still looking hopeless. Takeda had told the boys that they’d played well, Ukai had said something along similar lines. Kageyama didn’t care. This wasn’t _well_. They weren’t strong. The team didn’t mesh together. Long after the two staff members had excused themselves, the team were still standing about awkwardly, not knowing how to feel.

      Yamaguchi cleared his throat, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. He looked around himself before speaking. “I think… I want to quit. This isn’t a team. Not anymore.”

      “We were doing fine until that shrimp ruined everything—”

      “For God’s sake, Tsukki. How long are you going to keep blaming Hinata? At some point, it stops being Hinata’s fault and it starts being ours. This team was falling apart even before we came, but it was Kageyama and Hinata’s freak quick that held us all together!” Yamaguchi wheeled around to face Kageyama, who hadn’t moved from the bench. “And you! How could you bully him like that, Kageyama? Your class might be praising you for hospitalising him, but you’re _sick_.”

      “Wow.” Nishinoya looked visibly shocked by Yamaguchi’s outburst. “Well… I hate to admit it, but he has a point. I’m still irritated about us losing to Shiratorizawa, but Kageyama. He was trying to get better because he felt _bad_ about losing that point, but you pushed him over like that? He was passed out on the ground and you just _left_ him there?”

      “Noya-san. You’re right.” Tanaka walked forward. “This is no team. Hinata injected life into the team and you provided a contrast. But now he’s gone, and you’re just bitter. Your mood’s spread to the entire team.” The words hurt Kageyama. _I’m sorry_ , he wanted to say. He wanted to apologise. But he couldn’t. All he could do was bury his head into his hands and _think_. His mind was blank, so blank.

      “Wait. Is everyone quitting?” Ennoshita’s eyes widened. “We can’t just _quit_ …”

      “We don’t have to.” Yamaguchi pulled out a magazine from his bag. “Lookie here. It’s _TechGizmo_. You all play Visualisation Wars, don’t you? Well, at the end of this month, there’s a super-rare item that’s going to be handed out on Saturday’s gathering.”

      Tsukishima raised an eyebrow at his best friend. “What’s a game going to do for our problems? Visualisation Wars helped me to work on my blocking. But what do I care about some new item?”

      “Apparently, it’ll enhance your ability to envision things and stuff,” Yamaguchi explained. There were practically stars in his eyes. The brunette always got super-excited whenever he was talking about technology. “It’s developed by Kayaba Akihiko, the man responsible for the NerveGear!”

      “Seriously?” Ennoshita snatched the magazine out of Yamaguchi’s hands and flicked through it. Just as Yamaguchi said, there was a rare item being shown. Well, not the item itself — it was just a question mark — but it was definitely no rumour. This item would change the way they all saw Visualisation Wars. “Wow. It sounds cool…”

      “So, here’s what we’ll do. The gathering lasts exactly six hours, from twelve in the afternoon to six. We’ll all go online before twelve and wait to be summoned there,” Yamaguchi explained. “Once that happens, we should get the item in our inventory. Sound cool?”

      “Wait, I’ve got a question,” Tanaka said.

      “As do I,” Nishinoya said.

      “What if… the rare item is Kiyoko-san’s diary?”

      “Ryuu! You’re a genius!”

      Tsukishima scoffed, but he actually kept his mouth shut for once. Either way, Yamaguchi and Ennoshita were now arguing with Nishinoya and Tanaka on the possibility on that being true. Kageyama had managed to slip out amongst all of the commotion, intending to make his way home. It was true, the volleyball team had just been falling apart recently. After experiencing such a crushing defeat, Karasuno had just been unable to get back up. It didn’t look like the boys’ volleyball club would recover. While they blamed Hinata in the start, it turns out that maybe _all_ of them were to blame.

      Because now, Hinata was stuck on crutches and Kageyama was drowning in guilt he wasn’t aware that he was feeling.

      _Damnit_.


	7. Autumn's Proud Treetops

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hinata's entire world is flipped sideways with those two simple words: "Link start!"

      “Natsu! I’m home!” Three weeks later and it was the first of the new month, June. Hinata had been attending physiotherapy over the past couple of days. While it was painful, he’d made a lot of progress. He didn’t have to lean on his crutches as heavily now. It still felt near impossible to do any sort of ‘rotating’ with his right knee, but that didn’t matter. He was at home; he could see his family.

      “Shouyou!” Natsu ran out and wrapped her little arms around her brother, who dropped one crutch and wrapped his free arm around her in response. He’d missed his sister _so much_. “I played Visualisation Wars while you were gone! Dad said it was fine; I hope you don’t mind—”

      “Shouyou!” This time, Hinata’s dad ran out. He was a tall man, much unlike his son. He had orange hair cropped close to his scalp, hooded brown eyes and neatly-trimmed eyebrows. He was the neat, older, polished version of Hinata. And he currently had both Hinata and Natsu in a massive bear hug.

      “Teppei! He’s only just got back from physio,” Hinata’s mother scolded, pulling her husband away. The only reason Hinata was still upright was because the door had been right behind him, waiting to catch the middle blocker if he fell.

      “I’m sorry for wanting to see my son,” he responded humorously, laughing at the sour expression Hinata’s mother got on her face. “Alright, alright. I’ll behave, Riko. Hey, Shouyou. Come to the living room. I made curry.”

      “I said I wanted to make it,” Riko muttered, pouting at her husband.

      “Believe me, Mom. It’s fine,” Hinata and Natsu both rushed to say. While their mother was enthusiastic about cooking, she wasn’t the best at it. Somehow, she was even able to make _toast_ taste like it had come from the depths of hell.

      Hinata grabbed his other crutch from where it had been leaning, helping himself into the living room and onto the couch. There was a steaming bowl of curry in front of him, which Hinata didn’t hesitate to dig into.

      “Shouyou, I hear you played the game even though I asked you not to,” Teppei said, giving the small boy a stern look. At this, Hinata’s head jerked up. He hadn’t been expecting this interrogation. _Oops_.

      “I… I’m sorry.”

      “I had to buy a protector for the console,” Teppei explained. “I wasn’t aware when I bought the thing for you, but there was one case of someone getting their brain fried after hooking the console up to the helmet incorrectly.”

      Hinata’s eyes widened. _What if that had been him?_

      “It was just a case of bad wiring, but I wanted to take the extra precautions. The protector’s just a layer that ensures that the cable won’t slip out.” Teppei grinned and plopped some curry in his mouth. “Anyway, did you like it? I haven’t tried it myself, although I might…”

      “It was cool. I _really_ want to play it…” Hinata was itching to go upstairs and play the game. It was quarter to twelve right now. He’d have time to warm his brain up before conjuring the Shiratorizawa match. He hadn’t been able to play since having his surgery, so he wanted to go and test out his conjuring skills.

      “Won’t you at least talk to me first? I want to tell you all about Kawagoe!” Despite Teppei being in his early forties, it didn’t stop him from acting childish. Of course not.

      “Later. Please?” Hinata pouted. “I’m tired. The guy made me walk around and move my knee for _ages_.”

      “Fine, fine.” Teppei flapped his arm at his son. “Off you go. Don’t stay online too long, alright?”

      “Yeah, yeah.” Hinata grabbed his crutches and got up to his feet. He began to lurch his way towards the door, but not before turning back to face his father. “Hey, Dad. Would you… would you support me, no matter what?”

      “Of course. Why?” Teppei got up and wiggled his eyebrows at his son. “You want some _manly_ advice? Hmm? Manly advice from the manliest man around?”

      “Dad, you cried because you saw a spider on the wall last night,” Natsu piped up. She’d been sitting on the carpet, absentmindedly playing with her dolls.

      Teppei flushed a bright pink. “W…Well, that’s what real men do!”

      Hinata laughed. He loved how silly his father could be sometimes. “I’m fine, Dad. Thanks.” Hinata wanted nothing more than to confess that he was gay. He wanted to tell his father the truth. But… he was scared. After the reception he’d received at Karasuno High, he couldn’t dare tell anyone else. They’d tried to _kill_ him. Of course, his parents knew nothing about it and they _wouldn’t_ , because Hinata wasn’t going to tell them. It was fine. He’d need at least three, four months for a full recovery, so he’d be safe from the bullies.

      He hobbled up the stairs. _Damn_. It was trickier than he’d expected to go up the stairs with crutches. He eventually managed to pull it off. He went to his room, saw the helmet which was neatly placed on his bed. _Visualisation Wars_. He was buzzing with so much excitement. His dreams wouldn’t end, not now.

      The helmet went onto his unkempt hair, then he let the crutches go as he laid down on his bed and closed his eyes. A button popped up, asking him to touch his body.

      “Ehh?” Hinata’s eyes widened at the command. “Is this thing a pedo?!” He tried to deny the command, but it wasn’t going away. _God, fine. Damnit_. Hinata slowly began to feel down his body, slender and just a little starved. He hadn’t been eating as well as usual lately, so he’d been losing quite a bit of weight. It wasn’t that he didn’t _want_ to eat, God no. He loved food. He just hated _hospital_ food.

      Finally, a ‘ping!’ went off and the alert disappeared. It was dark once again. _Alright_. Hinata took a deep breath, cleared his mind.

      “Link start!”

***

      When Hinata appeared in World One, it was as himself. _Eh?_ He frowned. The first time he’d appeared, he’d been _humongous_ and he’d had straight hair. He hadn’t been able to see his reflection, but he just knew. He looked _cool_.

      The first thing that appeared was Hinata’s physiotherapist.

      “Eh? Go away!” He willed the man to disappear. But he was still there, barking commands at Hinata. _Walk. Flex your knee. Do this. Do that_. “Damnit. Can’t I make people disappear on this thing?” The next thing to pop out of a sky was a _lance_. It pierced straight through his physiotherapist, abruptly quieting the man’s commands.

      “E…Eh? I… I didn’t think about that…” He backed away from the body, which had collapsed to the ground. The body shattered into a thousand pixels, before disappearing forever. _What’s happening?_

      Hinata had been pacing around for a good five minutes until he was able to calm himself down. “Alright, alright. I can still play volleyball. I’ll just—” Suddenly, his lips weren’t working anymore. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t do _anything_. He could feel his body, glowing bright blue. _What is this? Is he dying?_ It was a light, ticklish feeling. It didn’t feel _bad_. But it didn’t feel good either.

      When he next opened his eyes, there were thousands upon thousands of people surrounding him. There were no familiar faces, which scared Hinata. _What is this? He didn’t imagine these people…_

      “You look like you’re about to piss yourself.” Hinata turned to face Iwaizumi — or someone that _appeared_ to be Iwaizumi — who was currently sipping out of a fizzy pop bottle. “I haven’t seen you at gathering before. You new?”

      Hinata let out a nervous chuckle. “Y—Yeah? I… ah… no? Yes?”

      His face darkened. “Which one is it?”

      Hinata let out a squeak in response. He’s _terrified_ , no way to get around that.

      “Iwa-chan! Stop bullying the newbies!” Alright, _this one_ was unmistakable. Oikawa was walking towards the two, but he was clad in golden armour with a golden cape to match. All that was missing was the crown. Or a helmet. That way, Hinata wouldn’t have to look at his smug mug.

      “Shut up, Kusokawa! My name’s not Iwaizumi on here! It’s Hajimite!”

      “That’s cool, Iwa-chan.” Iwaizumi growled, but he didn’t bother to argue with the armour-clad knight. Or king. Whatever he was going for. “Hey, chibi-chan. I’m King Kawa. I wanted to go with Boikawa, but Iwa-chan over there overrode the system and changed my name to this.” Oikawa had a sour look on his name. “Iwa-chan, just because your name’s lame doesn’t mean mine has to be arrogant—”

      “Shut up! I’ll punch you!”

      “Is that all you know how to do, Iwa-chan? You can’t even get your visualisation stats past Level 7. Mine are at Level 43,” King Kawa teased, sticking his tongue out at Hajimite.

      Hinata had silently been planning a way to escape from the bickering two, but at the sound of _stats_ , Hinata’s ears perked up. “Pardon? Could you explain the stats to me, Great King?”

      “No!” King Kawa began to make childish faces, even going as far to say “Na-na, I know and you don’t!” His joy was cut short when Hajimite slammed his fist on top of the king’s head, causing the boy to let out a cry of pain.

      “He’s useless,” Hajimite said, rolling his eyes. “I’ll explain. You have different stats. Visualisation and stamina. They’ll all pop up if you click on the button in your top right and click onto ‘Stats’. Visualisation stats are about how many items you can visualise at once. Stamina stats are about how _long_ you can visualise the items for. Different items require different stats. For example, to envision an entire building would require at _least_ Level 40 visualisation. Visualising food only requires Level 1, but as you try to visualise higher-level food, you’ll obviously need higher stats.”

      “Which you’ll never get,” King Kawa quipped.

      “Shut up! Dumb Oikawa!” Hajimite took a deep breath in, deep breath out before turning back to Hinata. “So, in order to improve your stats, you have to do a lot of visualising. It seems easy when the tutorial guy explains it to you — visualise and you get it — but it’s not that easy. You have to spend a ridiculous amount of time training up your visualisation, since you have to be able to clear your mind to get what you want. If you’re swayed for even a moment, the game will change what you want.”

      Hinata sighed, thinking back to the physiotherapist who he’d unintentionally killed. _Damnit_. “Oh. Wait, so why are King Kawa’s stats so high?”

      “He was a beta tester,” Hajimite growled. “Lucky fucking—”

      “Language! Iwa-chan! You are a disgrace!” Out of nowhere, Oikawa grabbed a hovering sceptre and whacked Hajimite over the head with it. Hajimite stared at the boy with wide eyes.

      “Oikawa… how did you just do that?”

      He shrugged. “Do what?”

      “You’re not meant to be able to use visualisation in the gathering square,” Hajimite said, so shocked that he forgot to be angry about Oikawa hitting him. “I know you’ve got some of the highest stats in the game so far, but…”

      “Well, it worked, didn’t it? Just means I’m superior.” He stuck his tongue out. Moments later, a bar of chocolate appeared in thin air. He began to gnaw on the chocolate, not bothering to be graceful about it.

      Moments later, a burger appeared out of thin air. Hajimite grabbed it, looking curiously at the meaty concoction. “It… it let me visualise this…”

      “Ooh! Me too! Me too!” Hinata was trying his hardest to visualise a meat bun like he had the first time. However, it just wasn’t working. When he opened his eyes, he saw that he had a _hot dog bun_ in front of him. Without the hot dog. “Agh!”

      “Oi. You never told us your name,” Hajimite said, having already scarfed down his burger. “He’ll be calling you _chibi-chan_ unless you have something that interests him,” he added, casting a glance at King Kawa, who was still eating chocolate.

      “Hishou… Hishou Shogun.”

      “Shogun? Eh…” King Kawa walked right up to him, easily towering over the small boy. “That makes us rivals then, heh?”

      “Kusokawa,” Hajimite growled, pulling Oikawa away from the small boy. “I’m so sorry about him,” he said, his hand firmly clamped over the king’s lips. “Do you have anyone else on this game yet?”

      “No. Just you two,” Hinata quietly admitted. “So, is it normal for us to get summoned here?”

      “Well, everyone’s here in Sekai because of the rare item. It comes out at eleven. Oi, Kusokawa. What time is it?” Oikawa seemed to be responding, but Hajimite’s hand was muffling the sound. “Ah, alright. It’s ten fifty-nine,” he said to Hinata. Hinata couldn’t help but wonder how Hajimite had been able to translate that. _Wow_.

      Exactly thirty seconds later, there was a loud _bleep_ which caused everyone to cover their ears. Hinata was attempting to visualise earplugs, but plastic ears kept falling out of the sky instead. _Goddamnit_ , the middle blocker thought. The sound went on for a good minute, and then it stopped.

      Hajimite removed his hand from Oikawa’s lips, looking slightly more drained than he had just moments ago. “C…Check your stats, Oikawa.”

      The king blinked. “Uh… okay.” He clicked in thin air, scrolling through his stats. He gasped. Blinked. It was as if the holy ghost had just been torn from his body. “My stats… they’re gone…”

      “My stats disappeared too,” Hajimite said. He looked like he was about to punch someone. “What the fuck? I spent a whole day getting my visualisation up to Level 29!”

      “My stats disappeared too—”

      “Chibi-chan, you don’t have any stats to speak of,” Oikawa snapped. “I had _Level 43_ on Visualisation. Forty-three! You know how long that took?” Those three weren’t the only ones. The entire square was full of angry yelling, shouts and foot-stamping. There were also random items being visualised all over; tomatoes, rubber middle fingers… it seemed endless.

      “I just tried to contact the servers. It’s not working,” Hajimite said. “Maybe if we log out and then log back in…”

      “Yeah,” Hinata said. He clicked on the _Settings_ button and looked for the log-out button. Pressed down on it. But, he couldn’t feel himself being summoned out of the world. He pressed it, again, again… and then again. “It’s not working. I can’t log out.”

      Oikawa gasped. “Eh? I have a check-up at twelve…” He went onto his settings and tried to log out, but the option wasn’t coming up for him either. “What… what the hell is this?”

      “Oi, Kusokawa. It’s probably just a glitch,” Hajimite said. “We’ll have to wait for the game mods to fix it. It shouldn’t take too long. They’ll probably just log us out… right?”

      It was five minutes later when something happened. There was a red haze which formed a dome around the entire visualisation square, effectively trapping everyone inside. Oikawa was freaking out and trying to visualise a whole army of knights, but he couldn’t even visualise any swords. Hajimite was trying to stop Oikawa from bringing attention to them. And Hinata was just standing there, staring at the sky where something was beginning to form. The red haze was liquidising, forming a large figure without a face.

      “Where’s his face?”

      “Kusokawa, _shut up_.”

      Hinata tried to say something, but there was no sound coming out from his lips. Oikawa was trying to speak, but he couldn’t. In fact, the whole square had suddenly gone silent. _Nobody_ could speak. Their voices had been stolen.

      The large figure had finally finished materialising. It was the size of a moderately-sized building, something way out of Hinata’s league when it came to visualisation. _Did someone manage to visualise this?_ Quickly, Hinata was able to realise that this was no figment of a player’s imagination. Their stats had all been reset. Plus, nobody could visualise the _aura_ that was coming from the figure. Large, domineering, _scary_ … it almost had Hinata wishing that Kageyama was there. He’d always hide behind the setter whenever he got nervous. But now, he was alone. He was Shogun, the cooler, fearless version of himself. He shut his lips and stared straight up at the figure, who was clearing his throat. Or at least, it _seemed_ like a he. Only a man would go to such lengths to make an entrance as pointlessly extravagant as this.

      “Hello, players. By now, I am sure you’ve realised that all your stats have been reset. The option to log-out has also been revoked. This is no glitch,” the large figure said. “This is Visualisation Wars. The war’s not only with your mind, but with each other. In a war, there can only be one team left standing. Will that team be yours, or will it be the rival you’ve hated for the whole of your life?”

      Books materialised in front of all the players. It should’ve been a cluster with all the people there were, but the figure somehow managed to avoid hitting anyone with the books. Hinata opened his and began to read through it. _Agh, it’s all written in kanji_ , he thought, gritting his teeth in frustration. He looked to the two older kids, who seemed to be reading through it with ease. _Alright, alright. He’ll just try and read what he can_. With that decided, he opened up the book and began to read.

 

**Welcome to Visualisation Wars. As of now, you are allowed to use your visualisation skills anywhere, anytime. There are no limits. Your health bar has also been replenished. If it drops to zero, you will die. Both on Visualisation Wars and in real life. The various rules are all listed below.**

 

      “I am Kayaba Akihiko, and this is my world. All ten thousand of you can live in this world. You can live, love and die. When I created the NerveGear, it was this world that I had in mind. The only way to escape this world is to kill everyone and be the last one standing.” Kayaba let out a deep chuckle, one which shook the foundations of the earth itself. “Now, I’ll take any questions.”

      When sound finally returned to everyone’s lips, the joint question that Kayaba got was “What the fuck?!” Right after that, everyone began to break into their own little exclamations and complaints. Kayaba simply waved his arms, chuckled in that low voice of his.

      “Calm down, calm down. If you want to go back to Earth, then kill everyone. You all have the same stats, the same advantages. And there are no safe areas anymore. When I remove this barrier, you will no longer be able to return to World 1. This _is_ the new world, this is the world that you will live and die in. This world is called… _Sekai_.” Kayaba was beginning to disappear, but not before adding one last thing. “By the way, if anyone tries to forcibly take the NerveGear off your head, you’ll die. The NerveGear emits powerful microwaves that can fry your brain if this is attempted. Forty-three people have already died this way. This is also being live-streamed to Japan’s televisions. So, Japan. This is my world!”

      Hinata’s eyes widened. “Forty… _three_?”

      “Good luck, everyone! Try not to die too quickly, eh?”


	8. Fire and Brimstone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hajimite, Shogun and King Kawa need to escape the gathering square. But... how?

**Rule #1: If you visualise something outside of your skill level, you will get ‘minus stamina’. The longer you allow this to go on for, the more health you will lose.**

      The barrier was beginning to crumble away. As the pieces fell, more and more land became visible. Land which was begging to be built on, claimed, _used_.

      “Guys,” Hajimite yelled, “Over here.” The trio of volleyball players could already see the mayhem which was happening not too far from them. People were visualising nails, matches and all sorts of small weapons. If they didn’t hurry and go somewhere safe, they’d get caught up in the madness.

      The three of them joined hands. “Alright, Kusokawa. Your visualisation’s the best, so you’re going to need to focus. _Quick_ , before one of these fuckers set us on fire—”

      “Iwa-chan! I can’t do it if you stress me out—”

      “Motorcycle. _Now_. Or a magic carpet—”

      “I need Level 15 visualisation for a motorcycle,” he reminded Hajimite. “Come on. The best we can do is make some skates. Even then, our stamina’s pretty low so they’ll last like three minutes at the most…”

      “I can’t visualise,” Hinata mumbled. He felt like he’d faint any minute. _Trapped_. He didn’t want to be trapped in this world. He… he just wanted to play volleyball. And now, he’s got to kill to save himself.

      “Oikawa. Come on. Focus, _please_. We need to get out of here.” Hajimite sounded _needy_. King Kawa’s eyes widened slightly when he heard the tone in Hajimite’s voice, but he nodded.

      “Alright. Iwa-chan, grip my hand as hard as you can. You too, chibi-chan. Close your eyes too.” The two obliged. “Wait, Iwa-chan, stop. You’re breaking my hand—”

      Hajimite gritted his teeth. “Stop delaying, asshole!”

      King Kawa sighed. Then, he closed his eyes. He was breathing in and out, focusing on connecting their strengths together. _Come on. Come on_. He was visualising the skates and the skates only. _Come on_. He allowed the idea of wings to pop into his head for a moment, moderately-sized white wings. Then, the skates flashed in his head once again. He squeezed his eyes shut even tighter and _pushed_ , before letting his eyes open. There were three pairs of skates floating in front of them, all three pairs adorned with wings. But then, Oikawa collapsed to the ground, unable to stand.

      “Oikawa,” Hajimite said, grabbing the king by his shoulders.

      “I… I used too much strength.” Oikawa’s health bar had dropped slightly. His stamina stats had gone below minus. _How is that even possible?_ The longer he remained on the ground, the more his health was beginning to drop.

      “Fuck. No, you’re not dying on me. Can’t I heal you? Isn’t there anything I can do?” Unbeknownst to the three volleyball players, they were being circled by a mob of angry men with pitchforks and tiki torches. Even though it had barely been five minutes, it appeared that they had formed one big team. In the rule book, it had read that teams could have a maximum of nine people (since the number nine is unlucky).

      “Iwa-chan. You don’t have time—”

      “Shut up.” Hajimite grabbed the winged skates from where they were floating and forced them onto King Kawa’s feet. Hinata had already put his on; he was just waiting for the two to sort things out. Although, he was beginning to become conscious of all the men circling them. They were all linking hands. Closing their eyes.

      Just when the three were about to fly away — King Kawa barely conscious on Hajimite’s back — a massive cage fell from the sky. A cage made of fire and brimstone, blazing red amongst a blue sky. It was about to fall on all three of them, trapping them and killing them. _How? Structures are meant to be high-level…_

      “Die!” The yells from the mob were deafening. Hinata wanted to go and hide; he wanted to run away. But, he wasn’t Hinata anymore. He was Shogun. King Kawa had near killed himself just from trying to save all three of them and Hajimite was focused on keeping King Kawa alive. It was up to Shogun to deal with this. But, he’d already put a lot of his strength into helping King Kawa visualise the skates. They would last about three, four minutes before disappearing. They _had_ to get out. They _had_ to.

      The cage stopped falling. The mob stared at the cage, then down at the three volleyball players. For a moment, nobody moved. Then, the cage resumed to fall once again, although it was beginning to falter slightly. At this point, it seemed more like an illusion than anything else.

      “We need to fly through it,” Shogun urged, grabbing Hajimite by the hand and rushing forwards. The skates were beginning to raise all three of them into the air, slowly but surely. Hajimite was trying to resist, knowing damn well they could die if that cage touched them, but Shogun was absolute.

      “Oi, stop,” Hajimite said. “We’ll die—”

      “Trust me. Close your eyes and fly.” Shogun was putting all of his energy into moving as fast as he could, avoiding the fire and brimstone. Second by second, the wings were beginning to flap quicker and quicker, carrying them further away from the danger. Right when the cage should’ve trapped all three of them, it disappeared into thin air.

      “Damnit! Our stamina ran out,” the mob yelled, consecutively clutching their heads in frustration. “Damn! Goddamn fucking damn!”

      “That’s… that’s so excessive,” King Kawa managed to murmur. His voice sounded weak, but it still had that touch of smart-assery in it. _Of course_. With the threat of the mob now vanquished, the three of them were able to escape. Right up ahead, there was a small hilly area where nobody else had reached. There was a bloodbath happening in the main square, so it would most likely be a while before anyone came out of the square. There were people visualising barriers, people joining hands to create weapons and all sorts.

      Exactly three minutes later, their wings began to fade away. It was very gradual. The wings disappeared, then the wheels on the skates, then the skates themselves. It was alright though — they’d reached the hill.

      “Oikawa.” Hajimite hoisted the king off his back and set him down behind the hill, making sure he was laid down fully. “How are you?” It was a question, but it sounded more like a statement when it left the dark-haired boy’s lips.

      “Well, my health bar’s at twenty-nine out of a hundred. So… I don’t know. You tell me, Iwa-chan.”

      Hajimite might’ve punched Oikawa if he wasn’t so scared that his punch would cause the king’s health to drop even further. It was still creeping down lower and lower. His stamina had now gone up to -1 (it had previously been at -4) but it seemed that the longer his stamina remained at minus numbers, the more health he’d lose.

      “Alright. I’ll… I’ll visualise a health box,” Hajimite said.

      “You need Level 5 for that,” King Kawa reminded him.

      “Fuck. Isn’t there anything I can do?” He gripped the king’s hand, so tight that King Kawa felt like his health would transfer to Hajimite. “Come on, smartass. Give me the answers already…”

      “You’re stressed out. You won’t be able to do anything.” King Kawa chuckled weakly. His health had now dropped down to twenty-three, six points down. “Iwa-chan. Take chibi-chan with you; go find the rest of Seijoh. Makka-chan and Kindaichi were in the square earlier on, I remember. Just… form a team and _get out of here_.”

      “Are you stupid? I’m not leaving you, you fucking idiot!” Hajimite pulled King Kawa up by the shoulders so that he was sitting up. “Get it together! You’re not dying!”

      Meanwhile, Shogun was trying his best to visualise a health box. However, whenever he started to push too hard, he felt a sharp pang of pain. _Pain? He’s not meant to be able to feel pain…_

      “Oi, Shogun. Don’t visualise the health box.” He opened his eyes to see that Hajimite and King Kawa were now looking up at him. “Your health just went down two points.” _So, if he visualises something outside of his level, it could kill him_.

      Shogun clenched his fists in frustration. “But… but…” He didn’t want to let King Kawa die. If this were some shounen manga, some mystical figure would probably appear and give King Kawa the health box he needs. But this wasn’t shounen, this was real life. This was Visualisation Wars. And King Kawa was about to die.

      It was then that an orange appeared in front of Shogun. _An orange?_ He’d been trying to visualise a _health box_ , but then he’d thought of food. So, he ended up with a healthy food in front of him. The skin had even been peeled off, luckily enough for him.

      “Wait,” Hajimite said, noticing the orange in front of Shogun. “When someone gets tired in the real world, usually a snack will bring their energy back up. Maybe the orange might help…”

      “Yeah.” Shogun grabbed the orange and rushed towards King Kawa, whose eyes were just barely open. He’d die before his stamina levelled out, unless Shogun tried _something_.

      He slipped a piece of orange inbetween King Kawa’s parted lips. Almost instantly, he gained four health points, taking him up to twenty-seven. When the next one went in, slightly bigger than the first segment, he gained six health points. Thirty-three health points. By the time Shogun had fed him the six remaining orange segments, King Kawa’s health was at sixty. His stamina had also gone up two positive points.

      “He’s okay.” Hajimite let out a huge sigh of relief. “God, I didn’t even think of that. That was the most obvious thing. Food. Jesus…”

      King Kawa cleared his throat. He seemed a bit more _alive_ now, but he still seemed a little lethargic. “Thanks, chibi-chan! Could you use apples next time, though? Oranges leave a sour taste in my mouth.”

      “He just saved your life, asshole.” Hajimite’s fist went down on King Kawa’s head, causing the king to lose three health points. “Oh. Shit.” He awkwardly patted King Kawa’s head, causing the king to chuckle to himself.

      “I suppose that’s true.” He rubbed his eyes, let out a deep yawn. “I can still hear all the shouting in the gathering square. It’ll be a while before those idiots think about self-preservation. While we’re here, I think we should work on getting our stats up. It’ll help us in the long run.”

      “Wait, King,” Shogun said. “You were a beta tester, weren’t you? How come you didn’t know about food being able to heal low stamina?”

      The king shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never tried to exert myself like this, so…”

      “Idiot,” Hajimite growled. “Such a reckless _idiot_. You shouldn’t exert yourself without knowing the consequences! Haven’t you learnt anything from the past?”

      “I know.” Oikawa’s voice had gone dark, calculated. “I know, Iwa-chan. I don’t need you to lecture me about my past.” Back in the real world, Oikawa had been in his prime. Winning match after match, building up trust with his team… he’d been on the way to success. And then, similar to Hinata, he’d been stupid enough to shatter his kneecap after practicing one too many serves. He’d kept pushing himself, again and again, until his knee gave while he was walking home with Iwaizumi. The dark-haired ace had called an ambulance and stayed by Oikawa’s side the whole time. He’d gone to visit Oikawa straight after the surgery.

      And now, Iwaizumi was sitting in the same spot, watching his best friend make the same mistake. “Fine. We’ll visualise, then.”


	9. A Parade of Falling Rain

**Rule #2: Drinking water or eating a snack will reverse minus stamina and get the health up. Likewise, for every ten minutes a player is asleep, they will gain 1 health point.**

 

      By the time night fell upon Sekai, the three volleyball players had each managed to boost their visualisation skills up. King Kawa was at Level 10, Hajimite was closely behind at Level 9 and Shogun was at Level 5. He was still struggling with focusing on the item he wanted to visualise, but they’d all done well. King Kawa had come up with the bright idea of visualising bricks so that they could get their levels up while building a house at the same time. None of them had said it outright, but it seemed that they’d formed a three-man team.

      “Hey, Oikawa.” Hajimite put a hand on the king’s shoulder, causing his eyes to snap open all of a sudden. Instead of a brick, a massive boulder appeared, crushing the small house they’d built.

      “Iwa-chan! You’re not meant to interrupt me!” Frustrated, King Kawa bit down on his own fingernails, before realising that he didn’t even have fingernails on this game. They were just plain ol’ fingers.

      “Shit…” Hajimite would’ve gotten mad at King Kawa, but he knew that it was his fault for interrupting him in the first place. So, Hajimite opted for punching himself in the face, taking six points off his health bar.

      “Iwa-chan, don’t be stupid.”

      “What? Do you want me to punch you too?”

      “More importantly, is punching all you know how to do?”

      “Shut up!”

      Shogun cleared his throat loudly. “You realise it’s night and we have nowhere to go, right? The square’s quiet now. Everyone’s probably setting up their shelters and camps. If we stay behind this hill, we’ll be sitting ducks.” While Shogun got tired of the other two bickering every chance they got, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to make it out alive without the two of them. As a beta tester, Oikawa was invaluable when it came to knowledge of the rules and limitations of Visualisation Wars. His skills were exemplary. Hajimite had amazing strength, both mental _and_ physical. Shogun… he didn’t have much. But he was still going to try his best. He was going to learn all the rules and use them to his advantage.

      “He’s right,” Hajimite said. “We need a plan.”

      “Easy.” King Kawa closed his eyes and thought hard. Moments later, a shovel appeared in front of him. He hopped up to his feet and began to dig a hole in the hill. While digging, he continued to speak. “Technically, we don’t need to sleep. It helps our health go up, but we don’t actually need it. If we go too long without sleeping, our health will go down. But for tonight, we should just focus on survival.”

      Hajimite nodded. “Makes sense. What should we do?”

      “You two are tired from visualisation. Just… visualise some blankets or something. We’ll rotate every couple of hours or so. I’ll dig first, then you, then chibi-chan.”

      Shogun’s eyes zeroed in on the shovel in King Kawa’s hand, narrowing in confusion as he asked, “Why are we digging?”                                 

      “I remember on the beta, they had things in the soil. Things like game clues, secret maps and missions. It could come in handy,” King Kawa said, still digging away. He grinned and pulled something out, dusting the paper off. “Alright, here we go. Edible paper that lets you gain one extra visualisation level. Well, looks like this is mine…”

      “Oi, Kusokawa! You’ve got the highest levels, why do you get the paper?”

      “I found it!”

      “But you’re a higher level!”

      “ _Guys_.” Shogun was genuinely going to gouge out his brains if he had to listen to this endless bickering for the rest of his time on this damn game. “Can we please just focus on staying alive?”

      King Kawa looked ready to argue, but Hajimite put a hand on the brunette’s shoulder. “Yeah,” Hajimite said. “We can. You and I will go to sleep, Oikawa will dig. We’ll rotate every couple of hours.”

      The two boys nodded in agreement. “Alright.” Hajimite and Shogun visualised some bedsheets and settled down into the grass, trying to close their eyes. It was weird, how it all felt so real. It was like the wind was really blowing through their hair; it was like they were really on their own out here. Hinata was in his home, but he wasn’t. His body was at home, but he himself was stuck in this game. The only way to get out was if everyone else died and his team was the last one standing.

      When Shogun fell asleep that night, it was with a heavy heart.

***

      Come morning, their stamina stats were at a satisfactory level and their health bars were almost full (by that, everyone had 100 health except King Kawa). Although the three of them were meant to be rotating on digging, King Kawa had eventually dozed off during his rotation. Shogun couldn’t blame him though; digging was tough work. With his small, pixelated body that hadn’t had a chance to build up enough stamina for such a taxing task, it had been really tough. He’d even lost six health points after accidentally hitting himself in the face with the hard end of the shovel. Shogun’s yelps and exaggerated grunts had ended up waking Hajimite, who dutifully got up and took over for Shogun. While that meant he was being the dependable senpai, it also meant that he was a lot more tired than he should’ve been. Even if he had more stamina than both King Kawa and Shogun, it didn’t mean he could do twice the work.

      That was why Shogun was dutifully visualising food for all three of them to boost their stats up even more. For every level you gain in Visualisation, your Stamina bar goes up by 10. Each stamina point lasts exactly thirty seconds, so the higher your visualisation, the higher your stamina. He constantly had to remind himself that stamina referred to how long you could visualise things, not how long you could run or perform other actions in the game. Sure, it was still possible for him to feel tired, just like any human would, but it wasn’t as bad as it was in the real world.

      Once Shogun had finally tired himself out by visualising all the foody items floating in front of him, he noted with relish that he’d gained a level in Visualisation.

      “Hey, chibi-chan. Could you visualise some milk bread?” Of _course_ King Kawa was the first one to wake up. “I eat it every morning.”

      “Milk and bread?”

      King Kawa groaned. “No, _milk bread_. It’s really soft bread. It’s delicious.”

      “Well… okay…” Shogun closed his eyes and imagined pouring milk onto some bread. It was no surprise that when he _pushed_ with his mind, he was met with the sight of a loaf of bread drenched in milk. “Here.” He grabbed the bread and tossed it in King Kawa’s direction. It slapped him in the face before landing on his blanket-clad lap, much to his irritation.

      “What is it with you and hitting setters in the head? First that damn Tobio-chan and now me,” King Kawa grumbled, pulling the damp bread off his lap and taking a massive bite out of it. He spat it out mere moments later, lobbing the loaf at Hinata’s head. “This isn’t milk bread. This tastes like stale ass roasted in the sun for forty-three days and nine hours in front of a picture of Iwa-chan. Not just one picture, _three_ pictures. And a portrait.” Even though Hajimite was still asleep (or at least _looked_ like he was asleep) he didn’t hesitate to whack his best friend with an outstretched fist. King Kawa yelped and rubbed his arm, a dark look on his face. “What the hell, Iwa-chan? That hurt!” He earnt himself a grumble from Hajimite in response. Yeah, he was definitely awake. Quieter than usual, but awake.

      Usually, the orange-haired boy would’ve been able to dodge the bread coming at him with ease, but at the mention of _Tobio_ , his limbs had gone stiff. Visions of that stolen kiss began to flood his mind; the heat of Tobio’s lips against his; the pain; the _hurt_. He didn’t even realise he was crying until he felt the thud of a box of tissues against his head.

      “Hey, I didn’t throw the bread _that_ hard. Why are you crying?”

      Hinata looked up from the ground and up at the sky. It was the same shade as Tobio’s eyes; it was an artificial blue, too blue to appear realistic. There were no clouds to obstruct the view; to make it appear more natural. It was a deep, saturated shade that seemed to stretch out to the edges of the game universe; it spanned Hinata’s entire field of view until the tears made it impossible to see the shade so clearly. Hinata was by no means a loud crier, the tears would slide down his cheeks again and again as if he were some sort of instrument. Yes, that was true. Tobio,

Oh Tobio,

              He would play Hinata, again and again

                                                                    And again, oh Hinata

Until his tears turned his porcelain skin to rust; until his tear ducts ceased to perform their job

And then what would become of Hinata?

He’s not anywhere in Hinata’s vicinity,

Yet he’s still

He’s still

He’s still

Shedding tears over him

……Oh, Hinata……

                   ……Because you fell for him, he’s going to play you……

……Again, again and again……

And Hinata won’t be able to do anything about it.

 

      No matter how many times he blinked his tears away, they continued to slope down his cheeks the same way Noya would skate down hills, the same way Kageyama’s hands would brush the surface of the tree trunks whenever he went tree-climbing with Hinata… Hinata was so busy in his thoughts that he didn’t realise that Hajimite was trying to speak to him until he placed his hands on the orange-haired boy’s shoulders.

      “Hey. Shogun. You’re shaking; it’s not good.” Hinata hadn’t even realised, he was trembling like a leaf hanging precariously off the tip of a frail branch. Fit to break; it would only take one gust of wind to send him to the ashes.

      “If that was me, you’d be threatening to punch me,” King Kawa muttered. “Why do you only ever punch me, Iwa-chan?”

      To Hinata’s surprise, Hajimite ignored King Kawa, despite his obnoxious yelling and random item-visualising. He continued to focus on Shogun, holding him by the shoulders and trying to get him to breathe. Hajimite was aware that it was midday, that there would be mobs coming to find them sometime soon. They’d need to gather their resources, come up with a plan and _leave_.

      “Hey, Iwa-chan. Leave this to the _real_ senpai,” King Kawa said, pushing Iwaizumi out of the way.

      “Oi, _Kusokawa_ ,” Hajimite growled, rising up to King Kawa’s challenge at last. “Do you want me to—”

      “Shh, I’m doing breathing exercises with chibi-chan,” King Kawa said, grinning over at Hajimite before turning his attention back onto Shogun. He was beginning to calm down now; his tears weren’t so bountiful. He’d wiped them away with his bare wrists, rubbed his wrists off on the plain shirt he had on. After breathing in and out as King Kawa instructed (weirdly enough, the king seemed to know what he was doing) Shogun felt quite relaxed. Even _Hajimite_ was surprised that King Kawa had been able to calm Shogun down with such ease.

      “I sometimes have panic attacks,” King Kawa began to say. “It usually happens when I’m on my own. Happens when I’m thinking about matches, volleyball. That kind of thing. I learnt those breathing techniques from my ex. She was really into yoga, you know?”

      Shogun simply shrugged, wiped the last of his tears away.

      “So, when you’re sad, remember to breathe. Breathing’s good.” He held up his hand in a high-five, a genuine smile beginning to tug at his lips. “We’re a team now. Let’s make it out alive.”

      “Yeah.” Shogun slapped King Kawa’s hand, relishing the slight sting on his palm. It wasn’t the same feeling as spiking a ball over a net, but at this point, he was willing to take anything he could get. Hajimite was subjected to a fist bump (it took Hajimite a bit of willpower not to ‘accidentally’ punch King Kawa in the face) and then King Kawa visualised a plastic hand so that he could high-five that as well. Finally, the three of them were fully awake and in the zone.

      “Hey, King. Is that orange glow there normal?” Shogun had walked out from behind the hill and was pointing in the distance where there was a moving orange glow. It seemed to be moving fast, moving _quick_.

      King Kawa came out, looked at the glow. He narrowed his eyes, blinked and turned to face Shogun and Hajimite. “No, it’s probably just a glitch. Let’s gather our items and find a way out.”

      “Alright,” the two chorused. With that, they walked back to their little spot and began to place down their findings from last night’s dig. Hopefully, there would be something there of great value.


	10. If You're Sun, I'm Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trio are in trouble.

**Rule #3: You can visualise anything (as long as it’s an already-established item, like cheese). You can change the colour, the size, anything you like. Once you have visualised an item, you cannot get rid of it, no matter what.**

 

      It was what _felt_ like half an hour later when the trio realised that the glow wasn’t a glitch. It was heat, _incredible_ heat. They weren’t sure what was going on, but the air was suddenly becoming warm. It wasn’t humid, where their hair and skin would go clammy. It was sharp, meaning that it nipped all over their exposed skin and drew droplets of sweat through their pores, similar to the way a needle could.

      “Guys, this might be dangerous,” Shogun began to say. “I think that we should…” He drifted off when he realised that Oikawa practically had stars in his eyes.

      “Look what I’ve found. It’s a map. If we form a cross right on top of this hill and drop our blood into it, we’ll be able to reside in one of our Worlds for one whole day. But, it says here that we’ll be… _ring_? Huh?” Hajimite looked over King Kawa’s shoulder and smacked his head.

      “Idiot, that says _transport_ , not _ring_.”

      “Same thing,” King Kawa muttered. “It says that we’ll be _transported_ back to the gathering square once the day is up. So, since hours don’t really exist in this world, days are judged by when the sun rises and when it sets. So, two sunrises are equal to twenty-four hours passing.”

      “The gathering square?” Shogun still felt a little nervous. “There’s some crazy stuff going on there. We won’t make it out alive again. We can’t use that map.”

      “But we can discover just how far we can push ourselves,” King Kawa insisted. “Remember, we can’t die in our own worlds. The health bar disappears. It’s a major opportunity…”

      Meanwhile, the air was beginning to get hotter. Sweat beads were forming on the boys’ faces, although they swiped them away with ease. Shogun was the one to point out the sharp air once again, to which King Kawa told him he was being paranoid. When their health bars were slowly beginning to creep down, it was then that they decided it was time to get up and look behind the hill. The orange glow was mere centimetres away from them. It wasn’t any ordinary glow; it was _deadly_.

      Shogun’s heart felt like it would leap into his throat any minute. “Let’s… let’s run…” At that, King Kawa shook his head.

      “No. We’ll die.” King Kawa was already beginning to walk towards the hill, where it was surely beginning to get hotter. His health had dropped down to a startling 80/100, which scared the two boys standing nearby. It had been full just minutes ago.

      “Oi, we can’t use the map.”

      “Iwa-chan, we have to!” King Kawa was dragging a cross into the grassy hill with his shovel, ignoring the heat which was threatening to make him faint any minute. “You two, visualise needles and inject yourselves. We need to put our blood into this.”

      “No, you’re being crazy. We can just run,” Hajimite began to say.

      “No! We can’t! We’ll die, and there are things that I _need_ to do before I die. I can’t die, Iwa-chan. Please… just do this.” Hajimite was about to argue, but as if predicting it, King Kawa cut him off before he could begin. “There’s something important that I need to tell you, something that I can’t tell you unless we make it back into the real world. I need to be _sure_ that we’ll survive, okay? I’m doing this for us.”

      Hajimite couldn’t find it in him to argue. He nodded, let out a gruff “Fine” and visualised the needle as King Kawa had ordered. In his head, he was just _hoping_ that King Kawa had read the rest of the kanji right, _hoping_ that they wouldn’t make any mistakes while trying to obtain a brief escape from this dangerous world.

      Finally, King Kawa yelled out a “Done!” His health had dropped down to half of what it had been before, 40/100. His skin had also gone quite tanned, similar to the shade of crispy chicken burgers pulled fresh from the grill. If he stayed there any longer, he would start to _smell_ like one of those chicken burgers too. The two boys rushed to join King Kawa, needles in hand. The three of them put their needles out, each brimming with ruby-red blood, and pushed down. The glow was engulfing them all, fire without the flames as the ruby liquid dripped onto the cross, filling it with their combined blood; their destinies. Like a chain reaction, the three boys clutched their wrists and sank to their knees, their bodies wracked with pain and agony of the highest level. They were crying out, the air around them scorching their tender skin and draining their health bars until there was barely anything left.

      Was this dying?

      Was this what it felt like to die? Was it meant to be so painful; so _futile_? The blood was beginning to bubble with all the heat in the atmosphere, blades of grass tumbling into the concoction only to sizzle away; wisps of smoke rising into that same emotionless blue sky. That sky was beginning to change, swirling and gaining slight undertones as the boys clenched their fists, bit down on their lips.

      They didn’t want to die. That was why they were clutching onto each other, eyes fixated on that cross in front of them as the blood splattered out, stained each and every one of them. Either way, the blood wasn’t on their hands. It was just their gateway; their escape. The heat was beginning to best them; it was draining their stamina and their energy. They were _sure_ that they would pass out any minute unless a magical shounen event occurred that would save them. In this case, that shounen event would have to be this _damn cross_. It was meant to be transporting them away right now, but they were still here. Their world wasn’t changing.

      Shogun could feel the droplets forming on his skin, except they weren’t normal droplets. They were like liquid fire running down his skin; _looked_ like liquid fire since it was that same ruby-red concoction bubbling in their rushed cross. He couldn’t open his eyes long enough to see if Hajimite and King Kawa had the same droplets on their skin, but King Kawa had been enduring this heat longer than anyone. He was in danger, all of them were.

      “Guys,” King Kawa finally managed to rasp. Weirdly enough, there was no noise around them at all. It was such a strange contrast — with all this pain and heat and suffering, you’d expect there to be the sound of bubbling, the heavy breathing, the _everything_ , but at the end of the day… this was still a game. You couldn’t hear the breathing, you couldn’t hear the bubbling sound effects; you couldn’t hear anything except the thud of your virtual heart in a pixelated world.

      “We need to put our hands… our hands in the blood,” he said, pulling on their hands and setting it above the bloody cross. The heated blood was still spitting and hissing at the three boys, infuriated by its rejection from their bodies. Now _that_ , they could hear.

      “It’ll burn our hands off,” Hajimite insisted.

      “It won’t work otherwise.”

      As much as it frustrated Hajimite, he knew that King Kawa was right. Of _course_ there was going to be some sort of catch; they couldn’t just escape the massacre of players without losing something in return. This time, they were going to be losing their hands. It was a simple choice, their hands or their lives.

      “One hand,” King Kawa said. “Let’s go.”

      And just like that, the three of them plunged their hands into the bubbling cross. One hand was firmly clamped on someone, whether it be on their hair or their shoulder, and one was burning away. They could feel it; their nerve senses were being eroded as the seconds passed. They weren’t meant to feel pain on this game, but it was as if someone had decided to amplify their pain. They could feel the burning, down to the bone, down to the marrow and down to their very souls. It was agony. Shogun couldn’t help the loud cry that he let out, his left hand was crumbling away; he couldn’t feel his body. He didn’t care about alerting the enemy anymore.

      “Why should we trust that damn map?! Maybe someone planted it, damnit! It’s not that easy, it’s just _not_ ,” Shogun yelled, pulling his hand out of the concoction. It just so happened to be at the same moment a red glow began to appear, completely different from the orange glow that was engulfing them.

      “Shogun, no!” King Kawa’s eyes widened. His hand had been completely destroyed, scuffs of bone hanging on for dear life. There wasn’t a shred of flesh left to be seen, just pure bone dyed in an alarming shade of ruby red. And just like that, King Kawa and Hajimite disappeared in a flash of red. Shogun was alone.

      Again, again, again. He was alone.

      The cross was already beginning to close in on itself. Realising what was happening, Shogun shoved his ‘hand’ back into the cross, but it was no use. The earth had sucked up their blood; King Kawa and Hajimite had held out long enough. Shogun was the only one who had been unable to hold on until the end. His health bar was erring towards a precarious twenty and his entire body was aching with dread. It was definite now; he was going to die. He couldn’t even _move_ now; his knees had locked into place. Maybe it was another glitch. _Or maybe… he just didn’t want to move anymore_.

      He closed his eyes, silently waiting until the moment his bar would drop down to zero and his body would disappear in an explosion of translucent pixels.


	11. I am Gun Gun

**Rule #4: When someone’s health bar drops down to zero, their body will burst into thousands of pixelated crystals which grant their stats to the person responsible for that someone’s death.**

 

      Meanwhile, in the real world, _Visualisation Wars_ was all that could be seen on TV. Kayaba had decided that a live stream of the game’s events would get the world pumped even further, that it would allow the world to see the brilliant world which he’d created. As inhumane as it was, Kayaba wasn’t exactly wrong. People were _living_ for this.

      Well, everyone except Kageyama. He was sitting in his room, watching the events unfold on his small television. In the gathering square, trouble was unfurling. While there could only be teams of nine, that didn’t mean you couldn’t have the power of more than nine people combined. Hundreds of players had been captured, chained and were having their stats drained by the self-proclaimed group, ‘Murder Squad’. They’d been selected as the favourite to win _Visualisation Wars_ , as much as it pissed Kageyama off. _Murder Squad_ were nothing but a group of bullies, plundering and using players in order to advance forwards. Right now, they were using the combined power of all these players in order to visualise a _sun_. Yeah, that’s right. A _sun_. There wasn’t actually a sun in the sky on this game, so they’d taken it upon themselves to create a ‘killer sun’ that kills everyone over time. It couldn’t kill the Murder Squad (or the captured players) since they were the ones creating the sun. It couldn’t kill them. But it _could_ kill those that weren’t part of their creation circle. That was why desperate players were clutching onto hands, saving themselves and not realising that they were only making the sun even stronger.

      When the camera cut over to a familiar-looking orange-haired boy, Kageyama’s eyes widened. It looked as if Iwaizumi and Oikawa were there. Upon first glance, he’d thought that it was Izumi and Koji, those two friends of Hinata’s, but he couldn’t mistake that determined look on Oikawa’s face. He also couldn’t mistake the bubbling cross in front of them. There was even a narration of the events. As Kageyama learnt about what was going on, he felt himself becoming more and more anxious. His entire volleyball team was trapped on the game as well as Hinata, but he hadn’t seen them at _all_ since the start of this monstrosity. He’d been lucky enough not to be in possession of a NerveGear, but watching this… it made him wish that he could be there doing _something_.

      “Watching that _again_?” Kageyama’s mother was poking her head in, frowning at the television screen. “Don’t bother with such depressing stuff, Tobio.”

      “Yeah, yeah.” He turned his head to face his mother, but when he heard that unmistakable cry of pain from the screen, he _had_ to look. Hinata’s eyes had gone wide and teary with all the heat, Iwaizumi and Oikawa had disappeared into thin air and Hinata even had a hand missing. _What… what just happened?_

      “Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve just watched two of the three boys disappear!” Kayaba’s boisterous narration shot out from the TV speakers, his words echoing back and forth in Kageyama’s ear canal. _Disappear_. “What is going on, everyone? Did we just watch a virtual transmutation happen? Stay tuned…”

      “Tobio!” Kageyama’s mother grabbed the remote from his bed and switched the TV off, much to Kageyama’s irritation. He reached for the remote, but his mother was holding it out of his reach. Sure, Kageyama was tall, but his mother was even taller. Weirdly enough, his father was quite short.

      “ _Okaasan_ , give me the remote.”

      “You’re not listening to me. I told you to stop watching that.”

      “My friends are on there!” There was that little voice in Kageyama’s head, telling him that he didn’t have any friends. He’d alienated them all away from him and he’d hurt Hinata for no reason other than the fact that he was an insecure, _stupidly_ insecure little boy that didn’t know how to handle his feelings. It was his fault Hinata was trapped in this game; it was his fault that the _volleyball team_ was trapped in this game. If he hadn’t talked so much shit about Hinata, if he had been the supportive setter that Hinata had once known, this wouldn’t be happening. They’d all be at the school gym right now, playing volleyball. And Hinata would be egging them all on with a massive grin on his face.

      “And your life is _out here_. You haven’t left your room in three days, Tobio. I’m not going to keep carrying food up to you. You’re coming downstairs, and you’re going to go _outside_.”

      “I have nowhere to go,” he reminded his mother coldly.

      “Go somewhere. Just _stop watching that damn stream_ ,” she said, walking out of his room with the remote in hand. “I’ll confiscate your TV if I see that this remote’s in your room again.” Before Kageyama could protest, she’d closed the door and left Kageyama slumped against his bed, staring at the blank television screen. His phone was splayed nearby, in the same place he’d left it. He couldn’t count how many times he’d scrolled through his messages with Hinata, how many times he’d begun to regret his actions and all his mistakes. He didn’t know what the _fuck_ he’d been thinking, but he knew he had to make things right.

      That was what was running through his head when he grabbed his wallet, a warm jacket and made his way out of the house. Kageyama knew exactly where he was going.

      The Shinkansen.

***

      “So what brings you here, dearest rival?” Kuroo was standing at the door, shirtless and smirking as per usual. What Kageyama _really_ wanted to know was why Kuroo’s hair was so messy. _Is it meant to be like that?_ It was when Kozume cleared his throat that Kageyama realised that he’d been stuck in his thoughts for a couple of seconds too long.

      “I need a favour.”

      Kuroo raised an eyebrow. “And you had to come all the way to Tokyo for a favour? Wait, how do you even know where Kenma lives?” Kageyama didn’t want to admit that he’d spent quite a bit of time combing Kuroo and Kozume’s social media for clues as to where they lived, so he simply shrugged and responded,

      “Hinata.” He knew that Hinata had been quite close with Kozume, so it was a plausible excuse. When the two of them nodded, Kageyama continued to speak. “I’m sorry for not calling in advance. It’s rude to turn up out of the blue. But… I need this favour.”

      “Go on, then. What is it?”

      “You need to promise me that you won’t say no.”

      Kozume looked up from his game console at last, slightly intrigued by what was happening on his doorstep. Kuroo, noticing this, smiled down at his best friend and ruffled his hair. Then, Kuroo looked back up to face Kageyama, who had a desperate look on his face. “By _you_ , do you mean me or Kenma?”

      “Whoever has a NerveGear.”

      As if finally realising what Kageyama’s intent was, Kozume’s face blanched a pale white. “No. You can’t.” His hands were trembling so much that he couldn’t even hold his game console correctly. Kuroo ended up taking the console out of his hand so that Kozume wouldn’t drop it on the floor. He set the console to one side and looked at Kageyama, whose fists were balled tightly by his sides; legs trembling and eyes darting back and forth.

      “I’ll come back alive,” Kageyama said. “I’ll bring everyone back.”

      “I said no.” While Kozume was usually disinterested in most things, he was genuinely worried about this. He still had the same timid look on his face, but there was fear lurking beneath those cat-like eyes of his. “I’m not helping you die, Kageyama-san.”

      “I said I’ll come back alive!”

      Kuroo sighed. “You can’t guarantee that, Kags.” The name grated on Kageyama’s nerves slightly, but he knew that complaining would only delay the result. Hinata would die unless someone went to help him. If Kageyama were to go into the game, knowing all the rules and what not to do, he could do it. He _could_. He knew what was happening better than anyone else on the game.

      “You have to let me.”

      “Alright, let’s put this into perspective.” Kuroo put his finger up, began to move his hands methodically as he spoke. “When this shitstorm began, there were just under ten-thousand players. It’s been three days and half of them are already dead. The Murder Squad took out all of the lone wolves, all the little kids that didn’t know what they were doing, the women, the men… they won’t hesitate to take you out too.” At the last addition, a glimpse of pain showed itself on Kuroo’s face. His hands dropped down to his sides; his energy suddenly felt like it was being dimmed. Noticing this, Kozume squeezed Kuroo’s hand and looked straight ahead at Kageyama. Kuroo still hadn’t gotten over the fact that Yaku had been killed. Nobody had, not really. Kuroo and Kozume had been lucky enough to have practice on the day that the ‘super-rare item’ was meant to be released. Yaku had ended up skipping practice since he couldn’t bear to miss out on the item. Now, they were here.

      “I’ll avenge him,” Kageyama quietly said. “It shows the usernames of the people. He was killed by some guy called Kaminari. Let me go into the game, and I’ll get to him.”

      “I said no.” Kozume was adamant, but Kageyama wasn’t going to stop pushing.

      “You two are the only people I can ask. Come on. If it took three days to kill off five-thousand, it won’t be long before one team makes it out alive.” Kageyama was scared, that was true. But right now, he had to swallow his fear and go into the game. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if Hinata actually died. He can’t let Hinata die.

      “Go home, Kageyama-san.” Kozume was already moving to shut the door, but Kageyama put his foot in the gap before he could close it fully. The blonde opened the door with a sigh, now appearing like he didn’t want to be here at all. It was true, he just wanted to pretend that _Visualisation Wars_ wasn’t happening.

      “Let me use your NerveGear.”

      Gritting his teeth, Kuroo looked up at last. “He said no! Listen, Kageyama. Rushing in and laying down your life for the sake of it isn’t going to help anyone but yourself, alright? I don’t care if you’ve got your pride. We’re not sending you into an early grave. Now, _go home_.”

      Kageyama’s foot was still stopping the door from closing. The setter took a deep breath, looked at the two boys standing opposite him. “If you don’t let me use that NerveGear, I’ll find a new couple to write about on my blog.”

      “Wait.” Kuroo looked down at the floor, then up at Kageyama. Down at the floor, up at Kageyama. “That blog… Gun Gun? You’re Gun Gun?” The ‘Gun Gun’ blog was so notorious that it had even spread to Tokyo. Day after day, the writer ‘Gun Gun’ exposed people from all sorts of schools — their secrets, their situations; _everything_. He talked about everyone, everyone except himself. Nobody knew how Gun Gun was able to uncover so much information about so many people in so many different prefectures, but he did it. He got thousands of readers a month, which wasn’t a surprise. Everyone loved to gossip, even if they didn’t admit it. They liked hearing about who was gay, who was fucking who, who was cheating… it was a guilty pleasure.

      But knowing that Kageyama was the one who caused all of it? Kuroo couldn’t believe it. Kageyama had a scary aura coming off him, a _dangerous_ aura that he could’ve equated to the likes of the yakuza.

      “I am.” He lifted a hand up, pushed the door wide open once again. “I want to use the NerveGear,” he repeated, the innocent look on his face completely contradicting the aura coming off of him. When he’d confessed to being Gun Gun, he’d had a scary smile on his face; he’d even intimidated Kozume. Kozume was standing behind Kuroo, making it clear that he no longer wanted to be part of this confrontation.

      “Fine,” Kuroo said at last, although the decision frustrated him. It didn’t matter if Kuroo and Kozume weren’t actually dating — if _Gun Gun_ said they were dating, then they were dating. It was final. Whatever Gun Gun said was equivalent to the word of God, almost. He was the god of high school gossip and everyone regarded him as such.

      “Thanks.” Kageyama was smiling now, one of those scary smiles that sent chills going down Kuroo’s spine. He could feel the fear prickling at his skin, like needles slowly pulling him apart. _How can one boy be so scary?_

      Kuroo said nothing. He stood aside and let Kageyama into the house. The setter was still speaking, saying something about wanting to take the NerveGear back to his house so that he could use it in peace. Kozume still wasn’t moving though; he didn’t want to do this. He _couldn’t_.

      Why was this happening? Kozume swore he wouldn’t touch that NerveGear, that he wouldn’t let anyone else touch that NerveGear. But now, Kageyama’s got it in his hands, juggling it about from palm to palm as if it were a toy. He was carrying his death warrant in his hands and he didn’t even realise it.

      “Idiot,” Kozume quietly murmured to himself at last, going over to the kitchen with his game console in hand. He was going to let Kuroo take care of this situation. After all, Kozume feared that if he stayed out there any longer, he’d end up making the situation even worse than it already was. The game on his console wasn’t doing much to quell his worries though. As he died on the game, again and again, all he could do was think about what the future would look like.

      What happens if everything goes wrong again?


	12. In My Own Ashes

**Rule #5: In order to visualise, you need to close your eyes and have the person/object firmly planted in your mind. It requires incredible focus in order to be able to visualise accurately, thinking about colour tones, proportions and even the weight of the object. You should be able to ‘push’ the object out of your mind by squinting the eyes, tensing the muscles and slightly leaning forwards with a little ‘jolt’.**

 

      The canvas of darkened blues stretched over Shogun’s head, gloriously brilliant in the aftermath of the dipping sun. His heart thrummed against his ribcage with a strange sort of feeling as the orange haze vanished into thin wisps of gold, leaving the same saturated blue sky in Shogun’s vision. Unable to shift his vision from the sky, he simply looked up, blinking as the numbness began to tingle from the tips of his feet to the hairs on his scalp. He was sure that it hadn’t been that long, but it was already beginning to feel quite late. The ethereal light the budding stars gave off reminded him of that moment of stunning epiphany when he'd first gazed into Tobio’s eyes; it reminded him of the nights they’d spent sitting together at their spot. While those memories usually brought the orange-haired boy pain, right now, all he could feel was that same numb feeling. The night was beautiful, so beautiful.

      “Oh, looks like he’s awake.” Shogun heard a voice. He tried to sit up, but there was a pounding ache in his head that made him lie back down almost instantly. He knew that _something_ had been strange. He was meant to be dead right now. He’d been roasting out there; there’d been no hope for him. _Did shounen manga pull through for him?_

      When a piece of milk bread appeared in front of Shogun, he knew that it wasn’t some sort of shounen miracle. It was just King Kawa. King Kawa and his faithful counterpart, Hajimite. They’d saved him. “Hey, chibi-chan. This is _real_ milk bread. Give it a try, eh?” Eating was the last thing on Shogun’s mind. He tried to decline, but his throat felt like sandpaper. He couldn’t speak, not even if he tried.

      “Idiot. He can’t eat; the boy’s got five health points. If he bites the inside of his cheek by accident, it’s over.” _Five?_ Shogun’s eyes widened at the sound of that. _Had he really been so doing so badly on his own?…_

      “W… What…” Shogun was trying to force the words out, but it wasn’t working. His throat was too raspy; the moisture had been drained out by all that _heat_. He felt like a dried up husk of himself; a husk that had wasted away over time.

      “The cross took your blood, so you ended up in protection. It was delayed since you didn’t hold your hand in there for long enough,” King Kawa began to explain. “The droplets of blood were meant to summon the power, but we needed to exchange our hands and even more of our blood in order to come here. You’ve seen Fullmetal Alchemist, right?”

      Shogun let out a raspy sound that was meant to be a “Yes”.

      “There’s something in there about equal exchanges. You know, for the whole transmutation thing. You have to exchange things of equal value,” King Kawa continued to say. “So, in this case, we had to exchange our blood for these twenty-four hours of safety. You appeared a little while after us, but you were still losing blood since you didn’t allow the cross to close up your wound. We bandaged your hand up, but you won’t be feeling right for a while. You have today to get fixed up, and then we’re going to have to go into the chaos.”

      Shogun nodded. So far, he’d been nothing but a burden to King Kawa and Hajimite. He was too weak to dig, too weak to save himself and he could barely visualise items, let alone _correctly_. The two boys were best friends, had been since their childhood. Shogun wasn’t going to let himself be the reason that they both died. He had to become stronger, he _had_ to.

      “Get some sleep,” Hajimite ordered. “There’s a well of water nearby when you wake up. Oikawa and I are going to start thinking about what we need to do.”

      “Wait.” Shogun blinked hard, wiping any tears away with his untarnished hand. With a concentrated effort, he managed to sit up. His every limb was burning with the strain; the _pressure_ , but he needed to help these two. He could bear with it until the time came to rest. “I can help.”

      “No.” Hajimite shook his head. “Drink some water and get some sleep. We’re going to be visualising weapons and stuff. Considering your health bar, it’s best if you stay away.” Shogun was frustrated; _so_ frustrated, but he knew that Hajimite was right. The two of them had had more time than Shogun to get a little bit of rest and eat something, so their health bars were hovering at the far end, erring on seventies and eighties.

      “I understand,” Shogun said through gritted teeth. He walked towards the well and began to pull himself up some water. He was going to work hard on getting his health bar back up so that he could be of some use to the two boys.

      Meanwhile, Hajimite and King Kawa were going off by themselves. They’d finally made it into World One once again, the world where it was impossible to die. Hajimite’s dark eyes were set on his best friend, who seemed to be forcing the smile that was currently on his face.

      “Oikawa,” he said, standing still. The brunette looked down at Hajimite’s feet, confused that he’d stopped moving, but he didn’t question it. He looked up at his best friend and raised an eyebrow, indicating that he could continue speaking. “Back there… you said there was something you needed to tell me.”

      “If we made it to the real world,” the brunette pointed out. “World One might be one step closer to the real world, but this ain’t no real world.” There was a flash of vulnerability on Oikawa’s face, but it lasted for mere seconds before melting back into that usual infallible smirk of his. It made Hajimite wonder just _what_ was going on in his best friend’s mind. Whatever it was… he didn’t like it.

      “Yeah. We’ll have to make it back then, won’t we?” Hajimite grinned in an attempt to try and lift his best friend’s spirits, but it didn’t seem to work. In fact, it only made a stitch appear on Oikawa’s face while he tried to hide the fact that he was clearly frustrated.

      “Do you think we’ll make it out of here alive?”

      Hajimite’s smile disappeared. “What?”

      Like clockwork, a sheepish smile appeared on Oikawa’s face as he batted his hands (well, _hand_ ) at Hajimite, pleading the ace not to hit him. Hajimite hadn’t been intending on hitting him, strangely enough. He could sense it; Oikawa was trying to change the topic so that the focus wouldn’t be on his feelings.

      “Say, Iwa-chan. It’s Level 20 to visualise people, right?” Hajimite nodded. “In that case, I’m visualising Tobio-chan. I want to beat him up.”

      Hajimite sighed. “That’s all you ever did during the beta. Honestly…” His complaints were lost to the wind, since junior high Tobio was already standing there with that _stupid innocent face_ and Oikawa could already hear that annoying voice in the back of his head, _“Oikawa-san, Oikawa-san, Oikawa-san_ —”

      In one move, Oikawa was able to visualise a single knuckle crusher, slide it onto his one hand and send it straight at that damn face of Kageyama’s. When the blood appeared, Oikawa allowed himself to smile in satisfaction. _Asshole. Thinking he can defeat me just because I’ve got a knee injury_. That was what was on Oikawa’s mind when he landed the next punch, and the next, and the next. Since this vision of Tobio was only that, a _vision_ , he wouldn’t be able to keep punching the boy forever, but he was definitely going to hold out for as long as possible. At first, Hajimite had tried to stop him from doing it, but he’d quickly realised that it was futile. The hate Oikawa had for Tobio was _toxic_. Hajimite didn’t want to get inbetween that. So, he stood aside while his best friend unleashed his rage. For someone that paraded himself as such a calm soul, it really was fascinating to see how vicious he could become when he was punching someone he considered to be a rival.

      What Oikawa didn’t expect was to get punched right back. He staggered back, having been caught off guard, and almost tumbled over. He caught himself at the last minute, eyes swinging open. Shogun was standing there, health bar up to a healthy fifty and eyes set in a cold glare.

      “Chibi-chan, what the hell—”

      “Get rid of him.” The orange-haired boy’s tone was cold, calculated; nothing like what the two boys had seen of him so far. “Now.”

      “No! I visualised him, _baka_. _Baka baka_ , he’s mine to punch,” Oikawa taunted, manoeuvring himself past Shogun and landing yet another punch on his rival. This punch was the one that finished junior high Tobio off, causing his body to explode in a burst of pixels. They littered the grass, making it sparkle and shimmer until they melted into the ground. There was a magical essence flowing about now, not only in the ground but in the atmosphere. “Hey, I levelled up! Whoo!”

      Nobody could’ve anticipated what happened next. At that moment, all Shogun could see was red; ruby-red. He landed one punch on Oikawa, then another. He just couldn’t hold himself back. In his mind, he was thinking about how Kageyama hurt him; Kageyama didn’t defend to be defended like this, but his heart just wouldn’t accept logic. At the end of the day, he was still in love with Kageyama (no matter how much he hated it) and he’d be damned if he watched that setter of his die like that. _That_ was what was spurring Hinata on as he continued to fight, moving so quickly that Oikawa couldn’t even begin to defend himself.

      “Oi! Shogun, you can stop,” Hajimite said, trying to restrain Shogun’s limbs. It wasn’t working. The orange-haired boy simply broke free and went loose at Oikawa once again. They were lucky that this was World One, otherwise Oikawa might’ve been in real trouble. “Shogun!”

      “Don’t hurt him!” Shogun yelled, landing a punch square in Oikawa’s face. The brunette didn’t react; he didn’t let out a yell of pain. He’d be damned if he didn’t feel like crying, though. He closed his eyes, focused on what he wanted to visualise and _pushed_. A small cage appeared in the sky, falling until it had successfully trapped Shogun. At first, he didn’t actually _realise_ that he’d been caged by Oikawa, so he was running around, punching and kicking aimlessly until he ran straight into one of the metal poles. He didn’t knock himself out, but it shook him out of the mood he’d been in. He blinked, sucked in a deep breath of air. He regarded Oikawa’s face, which was bloodied. He’d even lost a virtual tooth, which had pixelated itself on the ground. _Shit_. He just attacked one of his team members. They were going to get rid of him now, for sure. They _had_ to. Hajimite had a murderous glint in his eyes as he looked from his best friend to Shogun, but Oikawa didn’t seem to care too much. He walked up to the cage, paused right in front of Shogun and proceeded to spit some blood at him. It felt unpleasant in his mouth, warm and metallic.

      “You can calm down in there. Good night.” Oikawa turned on his heel and walked over to Hajimite, who was still clenching his fists in frustration. He knew better than anyone how irritating Oikawa could be; hell, Hajimite often found himself wanting to punch the brunette, but he’d never do it the way that Hinata had. Relentless punches, again and _again_ …

      “Come here.” Hajimite closed his eyes, pushed hard and mere moments later, there was some milk bread in the sky. Oikawa reached out and took a bite of it, only to grimace and spit it out.

      “Why can’t anyone in this damn world made milk bread?”

      “Shut up. I tried.”

      Oikawa simply smiled and handed the bread over to his best friend, breaking into a slow walk. Hajimite took a bite of his milk bread (which tasted _completely normal, Oikawa was just being a snob over nothing_ ) while walking in step with Oikawa. It was times like this that he felt like he was in the real world, like his name really was Iwaizumi rather than Hajimite.

      “Hey… are you alright?”

      The brunette rolled his eyes. “Concern doesn’t suit you, Iwa-chan.” Iwaizumi had to fight the urge to make Oikawa’s nose bleed from the right side as well as the left side. Instead, he touched Oikawa’s shoulder, realising that he’d been hurt when the brunette winced.

      “Take your shirt off,” he ordered.

      “Ooo, Iwa-chan. You want a strip-tease now? That’s awfully kinky.”

      Iwaizumi growled. “For fuck’s sake, I’m trying to see if you’re alright and you’re acting like an idiot.” At this, Oikawa’s eyebrows rose slightly, although Iwaizumi wasn’t sure whether it was surprise or the brunette’s usual arrogance. They stared at each other for a few moments, irritation in Iwaizumi’s eyes and that inexplicable emotion in Oikawa’s. Then, without a word, Oikawa pulled his shirt off, revealing the bruises he’d gotten not only from the fight, but from all the times he’d overexerted himself trying to keep everyone safe. They were ranging from pink to purple, black to green; it was like he had a rainbow of bruises on his skin.

      “Happy? My beautiful skin’s been ruined. I can’t go anywhere without getting fucking injuries,” Oikawa said, his voice losing that usual childish tone of his. “I can’t go anywhere without being reminded what could’ve been.” Oikawa remembered it very well, the day he’d discovered that playing in Japan’s national volleyball team was a possibility. He’d been asked to attend a training camp where he could meet the players and get a taster of what to expect. He’d trained hard, worked so much for that moment… and then he’d gotten his knee injury. He had been planning on allowing it to heal, but then that _damn_ ‘Gun Gun’ blog had popped up, casually dropping the fact that Oikawa had acquired a major injury. It just so happened that lots of teams were talking about it, so much that it made its way to the national volleyball team. Oikawa had his offer revoked. Days later, he was hearing about how Kageyama had gotten an offer to go to the training camp in Oikawa’s place. Of course, he’d accepted. While Oikawa had never been able to confirm it, that ‘Gun Gun’ blog must’ve been Kageyama. _It had to be him_.

      Iwaizumi didn’t respond. He just visualised a wet cloth and some ice and began to touch it upon the bruises, feeling a twang of pain inside every time he noticed Oikawa wincing at the pain. When the brunette let out a low groan of pain, Iwaizumi actually had to stop for a few moments, mutter an apology. He hated to see his best friend in pain like this. He’d always been there to help Oikawa pick up the pieces, always.

      “You’re not dying before me, you know,” Iwaizumi huffed, placing the cloth on Oikawa’s shoulders. He’d worked his way up Oikawa’s torso; now he just had to let the shoulders rest and he could put some ice on his bruises. “You need to stop throwing yourself into dangerous situations so readily. It doesn’t make you a hero, it makes you an idiot.”

      “Ouch.” Iwaizumi might’ve apologised if not for the slight smile on Oikawa’s face. It had been a while since Oikawa had looked so genuine, like the brunette he’d known before volleyball had engulfed both of their lives. “You really love to hurt my feelings, don’t you?”

      “I wouldn’t have to if you weren’t such an idiot.” He set the cold cloth on Oikawa’s other shoulder. Iwaizumi was struggling a little with the one hand, but he was making it work.

      “Hey, Iwa-chan.”

      The ace raised an eyebrow at Oikawa. “What is it?”

      “Thank you.” He closed his eyes, stuck his tongue out at Iwaizumi while making an OK sign with his one hand. “I feel great now! Let’s go do some visualising!” With that one sentence, Iwaizumi was reminded that he was still in the game, that he was Hajimite. He wanted to sigh, but he couldn’t risk ruining King Kawa’s mood.

      “I still need to put the ice on, idiot.”

      “I’m too hot for ice.” King Kawa smirked and pulled his shirt back on, having regained his usual vivacity. “Come on, Iwa-chan. You want to get a higher level than me, don’t you?” With that, the brunette began to twirl and dance about, visualising candy and milk bread and all things sweet. Hajimite simply stood there and admired his best friend’s resilience, allowing himself to smile as he thought about what would happen when they made it back to the real world.


	13. An Interlude of Guitars

**Rule #6: While it’s possible to visualise people, they’re not actually alive. They can’t speak, move; they can’t do anything humans can. They’re nothing but dummies that can stand on their own two feet.**

 

      King Kawa was the first to wake up once that artificial blue glow they called ‘sky’ happened to touch upon his skin. He’d visualised a futon, a comfortable one which had allowed him to regain much of his health. Hajimite slept in his own futon nearby, his porcupine spikes ruffled and even _spikier_ than usual due to all the rolling about he’d been doing. The brunette allowed himself to watch his best friend sleep, his dark eyelashes fluttering and his broad chest heaving. He found himself forgetting that this was all a game, for he’d watched Hajimite sleep like this many times in the real world. This time didn’t feel any different.

      “Morning, Iwa-chan,” he whispered, allowing himself a rare genuine smile before getting up, looking towards the nearby cage. It seemed that Shogun had lost all of his energy overnight since he was now crouched on the metal ground of his cage, head positioned inbetween his knees.

      “Chibi-chan.” King Kawa’s hands brushed against the metal bars, the tap of his fingers enticing the orange-haired boy to raise his head. He still had dried tears on his cheeks, red marks on his hands from trying to get the bars to come off. His health had recovered ever-so-slightly, but it was clear he wouldn’t be able to make his way through the gathering square.

      “I’m sorry.”

      The brunette didn’t acknowledge his apology; he simply squeezed some milk bread through the metal bars. “Eat. We return to the gathering square at nightfall.” Shogun nodded his head, ate the milk bread as King Kawa had instructed. Weirdly enough, the brunette didn’t feel resentment at Shogun. In fact, the bruises on his skin had already disappeared after his long-awaited rest. There wasn’t anything Shogun could do that would actually _hurt_ him. Sure, Shogun was capable of bruising him, but it wouldn’t really hurt him.

      “I spent all night visualising,” Shogun said, looking out at all the faulty visualised items which surrounded the cage. Teddy bears with overflowing stuffing, hands filled with ink (King Kawa couldn’t tell what had gone wrong there) and volleyballs, so many volleyballs. So far, volleyballs seemed to be the only thing that Shogun could visualise perfectly. They were round, the perfect weight and size, and they curved nicely in one’s hand. “Even after everything, I still wish I could play volleyball.”

      “You love him, don’t you?” Shogun’s eyes widened; his hands went in front of his face as if to shield himself from the question. He went to deny it, but King Kawa hadn’t finished speaking. “He’s dangerous, chibi-chan. Dwelling on it won’t do you any good.”

      “It’s not like I want to,” Shogun finally said, letting his hands drop down to his sides.

      “Just visualise him and get him to say mean things to you. It’s what he does in reality anyway, right?” Shogun was hoping that King Kawa hadn’t been trying to hurt his feelings, but that had still hurt. He hated himself for being so sensitive, _especially_ when it came to that damn blue-eyed setter, but he just couldn’t help it.

      “I’m not you.”

      King Kawa smirked. “Of course not. Who could replicate such incarnate beauty, chibi-chan?” There was some sort of worry lurking beneath that smirk of his, but Shogun didn’t seem to notice it.

      “When can I leave this cage?”

      “Oh.” King Kawa shrugged. “Well, I was kind of busy trying not to get killed by you, so I forgot to visualise a door. You’re stuck in there until we get teleported to the gathering square.” Shogun’s immediate reaction would’ve been anger, but remembering the way he was last night… it made sense. Even King Kawa had to make mistakes every now and again. It just so happened that this mistake meant that he wouldn’t be able to get out of the cage. “Iwa-chan’s still asleep, so I’ll sit here and help you with your visualisation. I’m the best senpai ever, aren’t I?”

      “Hey, King.” Shogun got up to his feet at last, began to stretch his weary muscles out. “You love him too, don’t you?”

      “Tobio-chan? Ew! No way! I’d rather die!” Oikawa stuck his tongue out, cringing at the very _thought_ of it. He couldn’t imagine wanting to touch his hands upon such smoothly curved shoulders, such a painstakingly crafted jaw; he preferred Iwaizumi’s rugged countenance, those olive-green eyes that would go warm whenever they caught the green flash of a Molten volleyball and that voice, _oh_ that voice.

      “No. Iwaizumi.”

      Oikawa froze for a few moments, suddenly aware that the world around them was silent. It was such a startling contrast from the real world, where cars could be heard zooming about in the distance and that drip-drop of the leaky sink in his bathroom. There was nothing but silence.

      Finally, the brunette seemed to regain himself, shrugging his shoulders while wagging a finger at his kouhai. He looked down at Shogun’s visualised items and picked the ink hand up, holding it out in front of Shogun’s face. “Say, chibi-chan. What was this actually meant to be?” The both of them knew that Oikawa was dodging this certain topic, but Shogun knew not to push things. Right now, the most important thing was getting their stats up. That was what was on their minds when they lapsed into a neutral conversation, visualising items every couple of minutes. They would continue to do that until that artificial blue sky melted into black, thrusting them out of this safe place and into the gathering square.

      The murder square.

***

      “Why don’t we just visualise big trees that we can climb up in and hide until all the bodies stop falling?” Shogun was trying his best to think of inventive ideas, but King Kawa couldn’t stop the snort of laughter that bubbled out at the idea of his Iwa-chan trying to climb a tree. _Oh God, that’s priceless_ …

      “Stop laughing, Assikawa. This is serious.”

      “Fine, fine.” The brunette waved his hands, calming himself down before he continued to speak. “We don’t need some sort of elaborate plan. It’s three of us against God knows how many people in the square. There are probably some people that might’ve branched out of the square like we did, but they’re a lot more vulnerable outside of the square. There’s lots of buildings and certain spots in the square that make it _better_ , but there’s more dangerous groups in there. So, guys. It’s either we become sitting ducks or we kill the sitting ducks.”

      At the idea of _killing_ someone, Hajimite could feel the blood beginning to drain from his face. He knew it was necessary in order for the three of them to make it out alive, but it didn’t change the fact that it would be murder. Even with his life hanging in the balance, Hajimite wasn’t sure if he would be able to kill someone. Sensing this, King Kawa put his hand on Hajimite’s shoulder and squeezed tight.

      “You’ve got this,” King Kawa murmured, letting his shoulder go. Hajimite nodded, his resolve becoming steely once again. He just had to pray that his morality wouldn’t kick in when push came to shove.

      “King,” Shogun said, effectively breaking the mood between the other two boys. “What about our hands? We can’t fight with just one, right?” Their missing hands hadn’t regenerated yet. The boys had eventually realised that they wouldn’t be getting their hands back, but that didn’t make it hurt any less. It felt _weird_ not having two hands, it felt weird not being able to grip the grassy ground with both hands.

      “It’s called _Visualisation Wars_ , not _Hand Wars_. We’ll make it work,” King Kawa said, looking down at his hands. There was a stump where his left hand had previously been, but his right hand was still in top-notch condition. He’d had a lot of practice using his body on this game, especially considering he’d been a beta tester, so he was incredibly good at hand-to-hand combat. However, there _was_ one thing that King Kawa had noticed.

      “Say, chibi-chan. Have you noticed your levels have gone up?”

      The orange-haired boy blinked back at him, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “All of our levels have gone up. You managed to get your Level 43 visualisation back, Hajimite’s at 39 and I’m at 24.” It annoyed Shogun that there was such a big gap between him and his senpais (he _still_ didn’t understand how King Kawa had gained so many levels so quickly) but he was still willing to try and make it work.

      “Now, look at your stamina.” Shogun obliged, mentally clicking onto that button and pulling up his stats. His stamina was at a cosy 480 out of 480, completely full. “You’re only meant to get 10 stamina points for each Visualisation level you gain. You should have 240 stamina, but you have 480.”

      Hajimite blinked, suddenly realising what King Kawa was talking about. “So… is that why he was moving so quickly yesterday? I couldn’t even grab him… it was like trying to grab his afterimage.”

      “Yeah. Looks like it,” King Kawa said, smiling and lying down on his back. The sky was beginning to melt away. It wouldn’t be long until the three of them were forced back into the gathering square, but they could at least have this brief conversation. King Kawa could let himself feel the grass tickling his bare skin for the last time before he went in. They’d need to don combat clothes, rather than the tatty threads they all had on. They’d need weapons, battle tactics and all sorts. Yet, they were all sitting here, speaking about the game rules.

      “But… I thought stamina was only related to how long I can visualise an item for. I’m not good at visualising,” Shogun said, trying to visualise an item as he spoke. He’d been going for a French fry, but a potato appeared in front of him instead. “See?”

      “Well, there’s still a lot of rules about this game that we don’t know about. There might be something we’ve overlooking,” King Kawa said, rubbing his forehead. “Either way, that speed’s going to be really useful. We need to think about how we’re going to use it.”

      Hajimite nodded. “Yeah. We need to think… we’ll be sitting ducks the second we land in that square unless we do something about it.” He was _terrified_ , no matter how you tried to paint over it. The thought of eminent death was making him quiver, making him feel like he’d lose himself any second.

      “Now, guys. I want you to remember one thing.” King Kawa spread his arms out, smiled up at the night sky. “Breathe.” With that, the familiar blue glow came over them, their bodies beginning to pixelate as they lost their place in World One. They were going to the main world. Now, they were going to find out just what was waiting for them in the visualisation square.

***

      When the blue glow disappeared, the three of them appeared in the gathering square, shocked when they realised what was in front of them. The entire square was littered with dead carcasses, discarded weapons and life crystals floating about.

      “You two, go gather the crystals. They’ll boost your stats,” King Kawa ordered, already beginning to run towards the buildings. “I’m going to go and check the buildings.” The two nodded and began to gather the crystals. Some had been absorbed by the ground over time, but there were still many floating in the air. It couldn’t have been too long since all these people died, but there had to be an _explanation_ for it. This had definitely been a group, considering that they all had the same colours on. Shogun stopped, picked up a sword which had three kanji characters etched into it: _satsujin-tai_. 殺人隊

      “Murder Squad…” His eyes widened when he felt something grab his ankle, tug him down. Shogun was able to regain his balance, but he didn’t miss the murderous glance in the woman’s eyes. She had dyed blue hair and sharp green eyes, not to mention her more-than-suggestive attire.

      “I’ll kill you,” she muttered, dragging herself on the ground and trying to swipe at the orange-haired boy. She didn’t seem to care that he was wielding a sword.

      “But you’re bleeding. See?” Shogun walked away from her hands and gestured to her lower half, which was bleeding heavily. “You can’t kill me if you’re already dying.”

      “W… Watch me…” It wasn’t even thirty seconds later when her body stopped twitching. The crystals burst, swirled around Shogun and engulfed the small boy in a blinding spiral of light. He could feel himself becoming stronger, so much stronger. Hajimite was doing good work on his end, gathering the crystals and boosting his levels up. He had complete faith that King Kawa would be safe wherever he was; faith that the three of them would make it out alive.

      Much to Hajimite and Shogun’s surprise, barely anyone was alive in the gathering square. Anyone that _had_ been alive ended up dying mere seconds after being discovered. While they saw it as a lucky break, they knew deep down that there was something scary out there that had taken all of these people out. They’d gained the stats of hundreds of men and women alike; their levels and stamina had amplified ten-fold, but the game hadn’t finished yet. It meant there was someone out there that was stronger than them, even _with_ all those combined stats.

      “Yoo-hoo! There were tons of dead people inside,” King Kawa said, waving around a sceptre as he walked over to the two boys. “My visualisation’s at three hundred and twenty-six. What about you guys?”

      “Two hundred and eighty-seven,” Hajimite responded.

      “Two hundred and forty,” Shogun responded. No matter how many life crystals he discovered, he just _couldn’t_ close that gap in skill. It frustrated him. However, he had the upper hand when it came to his stamina.

      “Well, shit.” King Kawa snorted with laughter. “We’re overpowered now, aren’t we? We were scared that some bad stuff would go down, but look. We’re undefeatable—” There was a loud cackle which cut King Kawa off. He paused, turned to face the source of the sound. In the night sky, there were figures on the roof, numerous figures. The trio couldn’t make out their faces, but they all had wings. Crow wings.

      “Listen to this. These naïve little boys think it’s so easy, don’t they?” The voice was unmistakable. Nobody could mistake that snide tone, that implied smirk in the way he spoke. It was Tsukishima. “Let’s kill ‘em.” He was the first to hop down from the roof, practically floating as he landed on the dusty ground. He pushed his glasses up, causing them to flash as he looked directly at the trio. Ennoshita was the next to descend, landing in style. He was in all black, his wings aiding his comfortable landing. With his wings spread out as he stood adjacent to Tsukishima, the two looked like they’d stepped out of some fashion magazine. When Yamaguchi came down, however, he stumbled over his own two feet and knocked Tsukishima over. Seeing this, the rest of the men flew down to see what was happening. Suddenly, they didn’t look so cool. Kinoshita and Ennoshita were bickering over who looked cooler in black; Yamaguchi was apologising profusely to Tsukishima (who had bent a couple of his feathers) and Asahi was desperately trying to calm everyone down. Oikawa burst into laughter upon seeing this, throwing his head back as he chortled.

      “You mortals think you can challenge me? You can’t even land without bending your wings!” Out of nowhere, a gust of wind appeared which was blowing Oikawa’s regal cape back, making him look just as royal as he aspired to be. He pointed his sceptre at the crow-like team, smirking as he gave his orders. “You were my rivals on the court, and you’re my rivals here. If I have to vanquish you all in order to live, then so be it. I, King Kawa, command you bastards to die.” Without warning, he threw his golden sceptre, the diamonds on the end piercing Ennoshita right in the chest. As Ennoshita stumbled to the ground, the sceptre swung right at Kinoshita’s neck, slicing it wide open. The both of them gasped and bled out on the ground while the rest of the crows watched, horror etched onto their features. Even Hajimite and Shogun were surprised by King Kawa’s sudden attack, but they couldn’t stare for too long.

      “Bastard,” Tanaka growled. “You killed Ennoshita…”

      “Actually, no. He’s still alive,” King Kawa quipped, smiling at the group in front of him. His smile melted into something more ominous as he added, “A direct violation of my orders. The rest of you will have to pay the price for that.” He closed his eyes, a golden crown appearing in front of him mere moments later. He slipped the crown onto his head and looked at his opponents, regarding them with a razor-sharp gaze.

      Shogun was searching the assortment of winged men, looking for Kageyama, but he was nowhere to be seen. Tsukishima, who was now standing, looked over at Shogun with amusement in his eyes. “That’s funny. Hinata loses his first king, so he heads over to the Grand King. You know he’ll just discard you like a commoner too, right? I’ll never understand why you commoners think that kings will accept you…”

      “Shut up!”

      “Make me.” Tsukishima stepped forwards, not holding any weapons in his hands. “Come on, commoner. Or are you scared?” The blonde was so fixated on taunting Hinata that he didn’t realise what was occurring behind him. King Kawa was putting his strength into visualising a small fireball, one which was hovering right above Tsukishima. Right when the blonde looked up, King Kawa released it, causing it to land straight on the blonde’s head. He was engulfed in a rage of flames, the embers thrashing down his slender body and turning his crow-like wings into small remnants of what they’d been before. The blonde cried out, falling to the ground as his health bar began to drop. He clutched onto the ground, tried to visualise water but he accidentally thought of the fire while he tried to visualise. He ended up with gasoline, which was pouring out all over him, all over _Hinata_. It only splashed on Hinata’s feet, but the fire was spreading, engulfing him. He kicked off his shoes, stepped back. He could feel the ground, damp beneath him, but he wasn’t burning. Not now. The ground was though; all of them were surrounded by a ring of fire which was threatening to engulf them.

      Chaos was ensuing; Yamaguchi was on his knees crying out as Tsukishima’s body burst into an explosion of life crystals while the rest of the team were charging forwards at last, desperate to avenge their fallen team members. Usually, King Kawa would’ve been able to vanquish these commoners without a second thought, but he quickly realised that the fire he’d visualised wasn’t disappearing. He was trying to _end_ that visual, but it wasn’t going anywhere. The fire kept licking the sky, the flames relentless in their route to victory.

      “Shit,” King Kawa hissed. “I can’t control the fire. Iwa-chan, water!” Looking over, he saw that Iwaizumi was taking on both Daichi and Sugawara at once. The two were quite strong, landing hits and kicks on the usually untouchable Iwaizumi. Part of it came from Iwaizumi not being used to his powers, while Sugawara and Daichi were well-acquainted with their skills, but most of it was from his reluctance to kill. It didn’t matter what was on the line, he just _couldn’t_ kill.

      King Kawa went to call out for Hinata, but he was being charged at by Yamaguchi, who was furious about the deaths he’d just witnessed. And King Kawa? He had Nishinoya, Tanaka _and_ Asahi on him, the three of them throwing spiky volleyballs at him. King Kawa was able to dodge them, but when one got caught in his regal cape, causing it to tatter, he let out a guttural roar.

      “Fuck you!” King Kawa lost control of the fire at last. It was then that he realised why everyone else had died. Before him, Murder Squad had tried to best the fire, going as far as to create a burning ball of fire that would span the whole of Sekai. However, they’d lost control and ended up killing themselves and everyone around them. Now, King Kawa was about to make that same mistake. That was the fatal rule: _You cannot get rid of an item once you’ve visualised it, no matter what_. The flames raged upwards, surging forth and closing in on the clashing clans. Like clockwork, the crows ascended upwards, watching as the fire closed in on the flightless trio of boys. They were throwing things down, Tanaka yelling “Ora!” again and again as he made hits.

      “Die, damnit!” King Kawa was trying to take the fire, make it his, but his stamina was beginning to drain out. He could only tame a fire for so long, especially one as vicious as this. The heat was deafening, the roar of crackling flames all he could hear. He couldn’t listen to logic; he couldn’t think up any elaborate plans; all he could do was _fight_. At last, a big storm appeared right above the fire — this was the work of Iwaizumi — and it began to chuck rain down, causing the crows’ wings to get wet. They went falling all the way back down as thunder struck them, practically roasting them alive. But Iwaizumi was beginning to encounter the same problem as Oikawa — he couldn’t control his visual. Oikawa had trapped them in a circle of fire and Iwaizumi had closed off the sky with his thunder. They were all destined to die in this circle.

      _Hinata needs to do something. He needs to do something useful. Something… something… something…_

_You were never useful._

_Who are you kidding?_

_You’re just a burden, Hinata…_

_A burden that forces everyone around you to get hurt_

_Look at Tsukishima_

_Look at Oikawa’s bruises. That was you._

_Look at that fire, those flames. That’s where you belong_

_You can’t do anything but pine over a boy who doesn’t like you._

_……you’re useless._

_Useless._

      “Shut up!” Shogun’s eyes were closed, his fists were balled tight.

_Who are you, huh? Are you just a little midget, incapable of doing nothing but yelling and crying?_

_Oh, no. You’re just that little cripple who has no dreams to speak of._

_Just die, why don’t you._

_You’re nameless._

_You’re useless._

_Useless._

 

      “I’m Hishou! Hishou Shogun! And I’m going to get out of here alive!” His eyes sprung open. And just like that, his stats flew upwards, his golden eyes glowing as he dashed forwards and leaped, appearing like a shooting star as he flew. He _was_ flying, his arms like wings as he ascended into the air. And he was glowing, an amazingly bright glow that shook the game by its foundation and caused the ground to quiver. Everyone had to close their eyes; they had to look away. They couldn’t witness this.

      Shogun really _was_ glowing now, the life radiating around him as the night sky was engulfed by pure gold, his eyes wide open as the air began to burn hot, hotter than the heat coming from the fire. It didn’t hurt, though. It was a pleasant heat, one which seemed to consume both him and everyone below as there was one final flash. Shogun was falling now, having lost his wings at last.

      And then, he hit the ground.


	14. Morningrise

      When the golden haze cleared away, it was as if the entire world had just been cleansed. There were no weapons, no fires, _nothing_ except Hinata himself. Suddenly, he felt so drained of energy, as if he couldn’t move or _blink_. But he did, he got up and looked around himself even though his limbs were threatening to give up on him. They’d all gone. But there weren’t any life crystals about, so they couldn’t have died. The sky was no longer flush with night spirit; it had regained its usual plain blueness. The too-saturated blue that didn’t feel genuine, the blue that reminded him that this wasn’t the real world.

      “Hishou Shogun.” A man appeared in front of him all of a sudden as if he’d just teleported there out of nowhere. He had dark hair, two sprigs falling forward against a smooth forehead and finely-defined facial features. “You’ve broken Sekai.”

      “You must be Kayaba Akihiko.”

      He let out a low chuckle. “You know your facts, little boy.” Shogun gritted his teeth at the reminder of his less-than-desirable stature, but he didn’t respond. After a suitable silence, Kayaba continued to speak. “Nearly everyone’s dead. That King Kawa really was a bit of a tyrant… he wiped out hundreds of people all on his own. Those buildings never will feel the same again,” he said, looking over at the buildings which King Kawa had plundered with a smile on his face. “But, there’s one person left. He wiped out even more people than that King Kawa. Say, why don’t you come out?”

      There was one crow left. Dark hair that glinted in the blue glow, swayed as the wings lifted him from the roof and to the ground. Dark blue eyes that matched those of the sky, cold and emotionless and he stepped forward. Slender body, pinched nose, pointed jaw. He had the biggest wings of the bunch; wide and sweeping things that created an insane amount of wind as he stepped forwards. Shogun could only imagine what would happen if he were to start running.

      “Now, introductions! This is Shadow Gun. Shadow Gun, this is Shogun.” The dark cutting eyes appraised Shogun, sweeping up and down with a force that was only rivalled by those humongous wings on his back. Shogun stared back, quietly willing his limbs not to give up on him at a time like this. _Don’t die, damnit. Don’t die_.

      “Now, viewers out there. Right now, you will see the stunning climax of this show. Who will win? Shogun, the one to break the game and surpass his limits or Shadow, the one who has plundered and killed those who stood in his way?” Shadow Gun stepped forwards. Shogun stepped backwards. It was then that his limbs gave out. He fell to his feet, no longer able to support his own body weight. His limbs were begging for some sort of relief, some _rest_. The crow lifted his fist, almost as if he were about to slam it right down on Shogun’s head. The boy’s health was at a precarious 1/100, having been drained by his act of valiance. It wouldn’t take much to finish him off.

      “Now, the fist will come raining down! Ladies and gentlemen, what a climax to such a thrilling tale of bravery and gore!” Shadow’s fist hit Shogun’s, grabbing it and pulling the small boy up onto his feet. Before Shogun could begin to question the decision, Shadow turned his attention on Kayaba, who was too busy narrating to realise what was happening.

      “Close your eyes and fly,” Shadow ordered, not even giving Shogun time to process the order. He was already flying, up into the air and into the sky. Shogun closed his eyes, trying to replicate the feeling he’d had earlier, but he couldn’t do it. He just _couldn’t_. He’d used up too much stamina. If he were to try anything else, he’d fall into minus stamina and die. However, the winged boy behind him wasn’t having it. “ _Fly_.”

      “I can’t,” Shogun said, practically dangling in the air.

      “Fine. Don’t fly.” Shadow let go, allowing the orange-haired boy to fall through the air. Kayaba was narrating these events with gusto, his thick eyebrows rising as he yelled and gestured to invisible cameras. It was so different from the ominous red figure that had appeared and proclaimed everyone’s deaths to them, it really was.

      “I’m falling!” Shogun’s limbs were flailing, limp and desperate as he tried to clasp onto something. That blue-eyed boy had just let him go, and now he had nothing to hold onto. _He’s really going to die now, isn’t he?_ He squeezed his eyes shut, released his breath at the point of impact. The pain never came. There was a rush of wind, heavy wind that made the air spin. Warm hands that clasped onto Shogun, carrying his frail body as they ascended upwards.

      Shogun was met with the sight of a smile, just barely there as they landed on the same roof he’d first stood on. “You really can’t fly now, can you?”

      “I’m sorry,” was the orange-haired boy’s response as he clenched his jaw and lowered his hand to the base of the roof.

      “Don’t apologise, boke. Just _don’t let go_.”

      “I won’t.” Shadow clasped his hand, combined their strengths together. All the while, he was staring into those golden orbs that were meant to be eyes, shimmering as the light hit them at that certain angle. Shadow sucked in some oxygen, tore his eyes away from the sight.

      “On three, shut your eyes and envision fire. We’re ending this for good.” Now, Kayaba could sense that something was wrong.

      “Why aren’t you two fighting?” He received no response to his question. Shadow was carrying Shogun in his hands, holding the small boy up as if he were some sort of game prize. He could feel the energy buzzing within him, that certain glow of Shogun’s beginning to engulf him. It didn’t matter how many times you beat him down, he would _always_ bounce back. Always.

      That was why when the word “Three” left Shadow’s lips, the whole of Sekai was engulfed in fire, golden flames that licked the ground, began to chase after Kayaba. He was trying to deflect the flames, but they were filled with the spirit of Shogun. Nothing could stop that, absolutely nothing. As the flames slicked their way up wooden buildings, sent them crashing, the two boys escaped in a golden explosion, flames and embers building up in their wake. Shadow was flying up so high that nothing could touch him, not even reality itself. And when the entire world began to collapse, pathetic wisps of white and blue beginning to leak out and pour onto the ground, Shadow and Shogun remained unaffected by any of it.

      “Good job, Hinata.” The two looked around themselves, the chaos they’d caused, and they laughed. It was all they could do, laughing until their lungs hurt and until Shadow forgot how to fly. He really had; they were beginning to float back down into the chaos and there was nothing they could do about it.

      “You too, Kageyama-kun.” With that, the two fell into the flames, holding hands while they were engulfed by the chaos they’d caused. Their bodies burst into those translucent crystals, sparkles amongst the golden flames. They were no more.


	15. To Bid You Farewell... Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been a month since Oikawa and Iwaizumi made it out of Kayaba's 'Sekai'.

      “Hey, Iwa-chan. I just got back from counselling,” sang Oikawa, who was inviting himself into Iwaizumi’s house before the boy could begin to protest. “My counsellor’s such a sweet person. Italian accents really are so cool…” He shut the door behind him and popped his head into the kitchen, waving an enthusiastic ‘Hello!’ at Iwaizumi’s mother.

      “Ah, Oikawa-kun. Hello,” his mother said, smiling over at the brunette. “I’ll be going out to the grocery store in a bit, but you’re free to make yourself at home.”

      “ _Mom_ , don’t say that. He’ll actually make himself at home if you let him,” Iwaizumi grumbled, poking his head into the kitchen. “We’ll be in my room.” His mother simply chuckled to herself, a small smile on her face. With that, the two boys made their way upstairs, neither of them talking until they’d quietly shut themselves into Iwaizumi’s bedroom. Oikawa sat down on Iwaizumi’s bed; Iwaizumi opted for standing in the centre of his room.

      “How was counselling?”

      Oikawa forced a smile, shrugged at his best friend. “Normal, I guess.” Ever since the events of _Visualisation Wars_ , Oikawa had been getting counselling. Iwaizumi had seen a doctor to make sure that everything was alright, so there was no need for him to go. A month had passed since then, but they still didn’t feel that normal. People would give them curious looks at school, people would stare at them on the streets and they were always getting stopped by random people, asking how it felt to be out of such a violent game. Their lives had changed, especially considering the fact that half of their team members had died in that _damn_ game. Seijoh’s volleyball team was no more. Although, sport teams all over Japan had been crippled by the events which had gone on in Kayaba's own little world. Missing players, missing coaches, missing cheer squad members. Their bodies had all been lost in the vast world that was technology, never to be found again.

      Iwaizumi wanted nothing more than to know what was going on in Oikawa’s mind. The brunette was always so elusive; so hard to understand. But he knew if he were to start probing, Oikawa would close off and they’d go back to talking about trivial subjects that didn’t matter. So, Iwaizumi decided to do the same thing he did every time Oikawa came around: he asked what Oikawa needed to tell him. Predictably enough, his response was along the lines of “I’ll tell you when the time’s right”.

      Iwaizumi sighed, ran a hand through his dark hair as he pondered his options. He could push Oikawa to tell him what he wanted to know, he could let it go and talk about things that didn’t matter, or he could tell Oikawa how he really felt about all of this. “We almost died,” he began to say. At the mention of death, Oikawa’s usual smirk froze on his face. It morphed into that ominous look he so often donned during his time as King Kawa.

      “Iwa-chan. Don’t.”

      “We can’t just keep pretending it didn’t happen, Oikawa.”

      “It was a month ago,” the brunette insisted, childishly tilting his head up. “So no. It never happened. Never, never, never.” He even went as far as to wag his finger at Iwaizumi, knowing that it would grate on his nerves.

      “Well, Oikawa. One month ago, we were trapped on that game. One month ago, you were one of the players with the highest body count. One month ago—”

      “Iwa-chan, stop it.”

      “One month ago, you said you had something to tell me.” Iwaizumi went over to the bed, sat down alongside Oikawa. “Every day, you tell me that I have to wait to find out what it is. Don’t you see that we’re not going to be able to move on from it until you actually _tell me_? That promise was what bound Sekai to the real world.” It had been bothering Iwaizumi a lot more than he would’ve liked to admit. He remembered the intensity in Oikawa’s voice when he’d pleaded both him and Hinata to help him with the cross; pleaded with the both of them to stay alive. There had to be some grand reason behind it all, _surely_.

      “Damnit, Iwa-chan.” Oikawa sighed. He blinked back the tears that were threatening to spill out, managing to keep them at bay. He could still feel them burning hot against his eyeballs, hot as the fire that had almost killed the both of them… now, he really _was_ crying, the tears spilling out and his outstretched hands trembling. “You… you just had to keep pushing, huh?” Oikawa was trying to smile, but it was shaky and it seemed out of place on that face of his; the face which had a lifetime of sorrow etched into it.

      Iwaizumi didn’t say anything, he just opened his arms and let his best friend pour his tears out on his shoulder, holding him close as he bawled like a small child. Oikawa was snuffling, becoming a little snotty — oh God, it embarrassed him — but he just couldn’t stop the tears from falling. Ever since making it out alive, he’d had to be strong on everyone’s behalf, laughing and smiling as per usual. But Iwaizumi was always able to see through him, always able to tell when Oikawa was putting on a show for anyone that might be watching. He hated that.

      “You need to stop keeping it inside,” Iwaizumi gruffly scolded. There was a mumbled “Sorry” and some snuffling, but Oikawa’s tears had begun to decrease in volume. The brunette pulled away, his nose snotty and eyes rimmed red with tears.

      “Great, you made me look ugly.” Oikawa grabbed Iwaizumi’s shirt and used it to clean his face, much to Iwaizumi’s irritation.

      “Oi. This is a brand-new shirt, you know.” Oikawa didn’t respond, he just continued to clean his face until it was squeaky-clean as per usual. He looked up once again, letting Iwaizumi’s shirt go. His hand was resting on Iwaizumi’s thigh. Iwaizumi wasn’t making any moves to remove it.

      “I’m sorry,” Oikawa finally said, lowering his head and leaning on Iwaizumi’s shoulder. “I didn’t realise how you were feeling. You always seem so indestructible. It makes me… it makes me feel like I have to be indestructible too.”

      “Idiot. This isn’t the Feeling Olympics. You’re allowed to open up to me, you know. Am I really that hard to talk to?” Iwaizumi was internally cringing, knowing that he was making this all about _him_ when he really should be trying to find out how Oikawa truly feels, but the words were just spilling out of his lips. They were thoughts that had revolved around in Iwaizumi’s head for the longest time, but never quite made it out from his lips.

      “I don’t know,” Oikawa mumbled, his voice slightly muffled by Iwaizumi’s sleeve. “I can’t stop thinking about what I did in those houses. I told you guys that they were already dead when I went in, but they weren’t. I… I just slayed each and every one of them, and not in a good way. I’m meant to slay with my attire, not with fucking weapons and fireballs!” Oikawa was still shaking. It didn’t take a genius to know that the events of the game had traumatised him more than he would’ve liked to let on.

      “You didn’t tell your counsellor about this, huh?” Iwaizumi might’ve scolded Oikawa if not for the serious mood in the room. The brunette was finally opening up to him after all this time. It was all Iwaizumi had ever wanted.

      “And then the way I killed those Karasuno guys with that sceptre… it keeps me up at night. Every time I sleep, I can just see myself in that get-up, spouting all that bullcrap and summoning _fire_ and _agh_ …” There was more shaking; Oikawa’s lips trembling so much that he could barely speak. “I… I just wanted to escape. Escape with you, so that I could be with you. That was what drove me forwards. I needed you, Iwa-chan. And I still do.”

      There was nothing that Iwaizumi needed to say, so he held onto his best friend even tighter. They remained like that, somehow ending up falling asleep next to one another. They’d gradually transitioned from sitting to lying down, holding onto each other the entire time as they flickered in and out of consciousness. While there weren’t many things that were constant in their lives anymore, their breathing remained constant. Their touch remained constant. _They_ remained constant. Right now, that was more than enough.

      And maybe, just one day… they’d discover what really happened to Kageyama and Hinata.


End file.
